THE  INTERNATIONAL  SCIENTIFIC  SERIES. 
VOLUME  XXIV. 


THE 

INTERNATIONAL  SCIENTIFIC  SERIES, 


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THE  GRECIAN   IDEA  OF  THE  STE  \ 


TIIE  INTERNATIONAL   SCIENTIFIC   SERIES. 


A  HISTORY 


OF   THE 


GROWTH  OF  THE  STEAM-ENGINE. 


BY 

EGBERT  II.   TIIUKSTON,  A.  M.,  C.  E., 

PBOPESSOB  OF  ENGINEERING   STEVENS  INSTITUTE  OF  TECHNOLOGY,  PAST  PRESI- 
DENT AMERICAN    SOCIETY    MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS,    MEMBER  OF  SOCIETY 
OF    CIVIL.    ENGINEERS,    SOCIETE    DBS    INGENIEURS    CIV1LS,    VEBEIN 
DEUTSCHE    INGENIEUBE,    OESTEBBEICHISCHER    INGENIEUR- 
UND  ABCHITEKTEN-VEBEIN  ;   ASSOCIATE  BRITISH  IN- 
STITUTION OF  NAVAL  ARCHITECTS,  ETC.,  ETC. 


SECOND  REVISED  EDITION. 


NEW   YOKE: 
D.    APPLETON    AND    COMPANY, 

1,  3,  AND  5  BOND  STEEET. 

1886. 


COPYRIGHT,  187S,  1884, 

BY  EOBEKT  H.  TIIUR3TON. 


UMY  . 

~(0\  SANTA  BAKilAKA 


PKEFACE. 


THIS  little  work  embodies  the  more  generally  interest- 
ing portions  of  lectures  first  written  for  delivery  at  the 
STEVENS  INSTITUTE  OF  TECHNOLOGY,  in  the  winter  of  1871 
-'72,  to  a  mixed  audience,  composed,  however,  principal- 
ly of  engineers  by  profession,  and  of  mechanics ;  it  com- 
prises, also,  some  material  prepared  for  other  occasions. 

These  lectures  have  been  rewritten  and  considerably 
extended,  and  have  been  given  a  form  which  is  more  ap- 
propriate to  this  method  of  presentation  of  the  subject. 
The  account  of  the  gradual  development  of  the  philoso- 
phy of  the  steam-engine  has  been  extended  and  consider- 
ably changed,  both  in  arrangement  and  in  method.  That 
part  in  which  the  direction  of  improvement  during  the 
past  history  of  the  steam-engine,  the  course  which  it  is 
to-day  taking,  and  the  direction  and  limitation  of  that 
improvement  in  the  future,  are  traced,  has  been  somewhat 
modified  to  accord  with  the  character  of  the  revised  work. 

The  author  has  consulted  a  large  number  of  authors 
in  the  course  of  his  work,  and  is  very  greatly  indebted 
to  several  earlier  writers.  Of  these,  Stuart  *  is  entitled 

1  "History  of  the  Steam-En gine,"  London,  1824.  "Anecdotes  of  the 
Steam-Engine,"  London,  1829. 


iv  PREFACE. 

to  particular  mention.  His  "  History "  is  the  earliest 
deserving  the  name;  and  his  "Anecdotes"  are  of  ex- 
ceedingly great  interest  and  of  equally  great  historical 
value.  The  artistic  and  curious  little  sketches  at  the  end 
of  each  chapter  are  from  John  Stuart,  as  are,  usually, 
the  drawings  of  the  older  forms  of  engines. 

Greenwood's  excellent  translation  of  Hero,  as  edited 
by  Bennett  Woodcroft  (London,  1851),  can  be  consulted 
by  those  who  are  curious  to  learn  more  of  that  interesting 
old  Greek  treatise. 

Some  valuable  matter  is  from  Farey,1  who  gives  the 
most  extended  account  extant  of  Newcomen's  and  Watt's 
engines.  The  reader  who  desires  to  know  more  of  the 
life  of  "Worcester,  and  more  of  the  details  of  his  work, 
will  find  in  the  very  complete  biography  of  Dircks  3  all 
that  he  can  wish  to  learn  of  that  great  but  unfortunate 
inventor.  Smiles's  admirably  written  biography  of  Watt  * 
gives  an  equally  interesting  and  complete  account  of  the 
great  mechanic  and  of  his  partners ;  and  Muirhead  *  fur- 
nishes us  with  a  still  more  detailed  account  of  his  inven- 
tions. 

For  an  account  of  the  life  and  work  of  John  Elder, 
the  great  pioneer  in  the  introduction  of  the  now  standard 

1  "Treatise  on  the  Steam-Engine,"  London,  1827. 

9  "  Life,  Times,  and  Scientific  Labors  of  the  Second  Marquis  of  Worces- 
ter," London,  1865. 

a  "Lives  of  Boulton  and  Watt,"  London,  1865. 

4  "Life  of  James  Watt,"  D.  Appleton  &  Co.,  New  York,  1859.  "Me- 
chanical Inventions  of  James  Watt,"  London,  1854. 


PREFACE.  v 

double-cylinder,  or  "  compound,"  engine,  the  student  can 
consult  a  little  biographical  sketch  by  Prof.  Rankine, 
published  soon  after  the  death  of  Elder. 

The  only  published  sketch  of  the  history  of  the  science 
of  thermo-dynamics,  which  plays  so  large  a  part  of  the  phi- 
losophy of  the  steam-engine,  is  that  of  Prof.  Tait — a  most 
valuable  monograph. 

The  section  of  this  work  which  treats  of  the  causes 
and  the  extent  of  losses  of  heat  in  the  steam-engine,  and 
of  the  methods  available,  or  possibly  available,  to  reduce 
the  amount  of  this  now  immense  waste  of  heat,  is,  in  some 
respects,  quite  new,  and  is  equally  novel  in  the  method  of 
its  presentation.  The  portraits  with  which  the  book 
is  well  furnished  are  believed  to  be  authentic,  and,  it 
is  hoped,  will  lend  interest,  if  not  adding  to  the  real 
value  of  the  work. 

Among  other  works  which  have  been  of  great  assist- 
ance to  the  author,  and  will  be  found,  perhaps,  equally 
valuable  to  some  of  the  readers  of  this  little  treatise, 
are  several  to  which  reference  has  not  been  made  in 
the  text.  Among  them  the  following  are  deserving  of 
special  mention  :  Zeuner's  "  Warmetheorie,"  the  treatises 
of  Stewart  and  of  Maxwell,  and  McCulloch's  "  Mechani- 
cal Theory  of  Heat,"  a  short  but  thoroughly  logical 
and  exact  mathematical  treatise ;  Cotterill's  "  Steam- 
Engine  considered  as  a  Heat-Engine,"  a  more  extended 
work  on  the  same  subject,  which  will  be  found  an  ex- 
cellent companion  to,  and  commentary  upon,  Rankine's 
"  Steam-Engine  and  Prime  Movers,"  which  is  the  stand- 


vi  PREFACE. 

ard  treatise  on  the  theory  of  the  steam-engine.  The 
works  of  Bourne,  of  llolley,  of  Clarke,  and  of  Forney, 
are  standards  on  the  practical  every -day  matters  of 
steam-engine  construction  and  management. 

The  author  is  almost  daily  in  receipt  of  inquiries 
which  indicate  that  the  above  remarks  will  be  of  service 
to  very  many  young  engineers,  as  well  as  to  many  to 
whom  the  steam-engine  is  of  interest  from  a  more  purely 
scientific  point  of  view. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    I. 
THE  STEAM-ENGINE  AS  A  SIMPLE  MACHINE. 

PAGE 

SECTION  I. — TUB  PERIOD  or  SPECULATION — HERO  TO  WORCESTER,  B.  c.  200  TO 
A.D.  1700 1 

Introduction— the  Importance  of  the  Steam-Engine,  1 ;  Hero  and  his  Treatise 
on  Pneumatics,  4;  Hero's  Engines,  B.  c.  200,  8 ;  William  of  Malmesbury  on  Steam, 
A.D.  1150, 10;  Hieronymus  Cardan  on  Steam  and  the  Vacuum,  10;  Malthesius 
on  the  Power  of  Steam,  A.  D.  1571, 10 ;  Jacob  Besson  on  the  Generation  of  Steam, 
A.D.  1578, 11  ;  Kamellfs  Work  on  Machines',  A.  D.  1588, 11 ;  Leonardo  da  Vinci 
on  the  Steam-Gun,  12 ;  Blasco  de  Garay's  Steamer,  A.  D.  1543, 12 ;  Battista  della 
Porta's  Steam-Engine,  A.  D.  1601, 13 ;  Florence  Kivault  on  the  Force  of  Steam, 
A.D.  1608, 15;  Solomon  de  Caus's  Apparatus,  A.D.  1615, 16;  Giovanni  Branca's 
Steam-Engine,  A.D.  1629,  16;  David  Eamseyo's  Inventions,  A.D.  1630,  17; 
Bishop  John  Wilkins's  Schemes,  A.  D.  1648, 18  ;  Kircher's  Apparatus,  19. 

SECTION  II.— Tire  FIRST  PERIOD  OF  APPLICATION— WORCESTER,  PAPIN,  AND  SAVERY    1!) 

Edward  Somerset,  Marquis  of  Worcester,  A.  D.  1663,  19;  Worcester's  Steam 
Pumping-Engines,  5J1 ;  Jean  Hautefeuille's  Alcohol  and  Gunpowder  Engines, 
A.D.  1678,  24;  Huyghens's  Gunpowder-Engine,  A.D.  1680,  25;  Invention  in 
Great  Britain,  26 ;  Sir  Samuel  Morland,  A.  D.  16S3,  27 ;  Thomas  Savery  and  his 
Engine,  A.  D.  1698,  31 ;  Desaguliers's  Savery  Engines,  A.  D.  1718,  41 ;  Denys 
Papin  and  his  Work,  A.D.  1675,  45;  Papin's  Engines,  A.D.  16S5-1695,  50;  Pa- 
pin's  Steam-Boilers,  51. 

CHAPTER    II. 
THE  STEAM-ENGINE  AS  A  TRAIN  OF  MECHANISM. 

THE  MODERN  TYPE  OF  ENGINE  AS  DEVELOPED  BY  NEWCOMEN,  BEICHTON,  AND 
SMEATON 55 

Defects  of  the  Savery  Engine,  55 ;  Thomas  Newcomen,  A.  D.  1705,  57  ;  the 
Newcomen  Steam  Pumping-Engine,  59 ;  Advantages  of  Newcomen's  Engine.  60 ; 
Potter's  and  Beighton's  Improvements,  A.  D.  1713-'18,  61 ;  Smeaton's  Newcomen 
Engines,  A.D.  1775,64;  Operation  of  the  Newcomen  Engine,  65;  Power  and 
Economy  of  the  Engine,  61) ;  Introduction  of  the  Newcomen  Engine,  70. 


yiii  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

CHAPTER    III. 
THE  DEVELOPMENT  or  THE  MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 

SECTION  I.— JAMES  WATT  AND  nis  INVENTIONS 79 

James  Watt,  his  Birth  and  Parentage,  79 ;  his  Standing  in  School,  81 ;  he 
learns  his  Trade  in  London,  81  ;  Return  to  Scotland  and  Settlement  in  Glasgow, 
82;  the  Newcomen  Engine  Model,  83;  Discovery  of  Latent  Heat,  84;  Sources 
of 'LOSS  in  the  Newcomen  Engine,  85;  Facts  experimentally  determined  by 
Watt,  86  ;  Invention  of  the  Separate  Condenser,  87 ;  the  Steam-jacket  and  other 
Improvements,  90;  Connection  with  Dr.  Roebuck,  91 ;  Watt  meets  Boulton,  93; 
Matthew  Boulton,  93 ;  Boulton's  Establishment  at  Soho,  95 ;  the  Partnership  of 
Boulton  and  Watt,  97;  the  Kinneil  Engine,  97;  Watt's  Patent  of  1769,  93; 
Work  of  Boulton  and  Watt,  101;  the  Rotative  Engine,  103;  the  Patent  of  1781, 
104;  the  Expansion  of  Steam-its  Economy,  105;  the  Double- Acting  Engine, 
110;  the  "Compound"  Engine,  110;  the  Steam-Hammer,  111 ;  Parallel  Mo- 
tions, the  Counter,  112;  the  Throttle-Valve  and  Governor,  114,  Steam,  Vacu- 
um, and  Water  Gauges,  116;  Boulton  &  Watt's  Mill-Engine,  US;  the  Albion 
Mill  and  its  Engine,  119 ;  the  Steam-Engine  Indicator,  123  ;  Watt  in  Social  Life, 
125;  Discovery  of  the  Composition  of  Water,  126;  Death  of  James  Watt,  128 ; 
Memorials  and  Souvenirs,  128. 

SECTION  II. — THE  CONTEMPORARIES  OP  JAMES  WATT 132 

William  Murdoch  and  his  Work,  132  ;  Invention  of  Gas-Lighting,  134 ;  Jon- 
athan Hornblower  and  the  Compound  Engine,  135 ;  Causes  of  the  Failure  of 
Hornblower,  137;  William  Bull  and  Richard  Trevithick,  133 ;  Edward  Cart- 
wright  and  his  Engine,  140. 

CHAPTER    IV. 
THE  MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 
THE  SECOND  PERIOD  OF  APPLICATION — 1SOO-1S50 — STEAM-LOCOMOTION   ON  RAIL- 

BOAD8 144 

Introduction,  144;  the  Non-Condensing  Engine  and  the  Locomotive,  147; 
Newton's  Locomotive,  1C80, 149 ;  Nathan  Read's  Steam-Carriage,  150  ;  Cugnot's 
Steam-Carriage,  1769, 151 ;  the  Model  Steam-Carriage  of  Watt  and  Murdoch, 
1784, 153 ;  Oliver  Evans  and  his  Plans,  17S6,  153 ;  Evans's  Oruktor  Amphibolis, 
1804, 157 ;  Richard  Trevithick's  Steam-Carriage,  1802,  159 ;  Steam-Carriages  of 
Griffiths  and  others,  160.;  Steam-Carriages  of  Goldsworthy  Gurney,  1827,  161 ; 
Steam-Carriages  of  Walter  Hancock,  1831,  165;  Reports  to  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, 1881, 170;  the  Introduction  of  the  Railroad,  172;  Richard  Trevithick's 
Locomotives,  1S04,  174;  John  Stevens  and  the  Railroad,  1812,173;  William 
Hedley's  Locomotives,  1812,181;  George  Stephenson,  183;  Stephenson's  Kill- 
ingworth  Engine,  1813, 186;  Stephenson's  Second  Locomotive,  1815,  187;  Ste- 
pbenson's  Safety-Lamp,  1815,  187;  Robert  Stephcnson  A.  Co.,  1824,190;  the 
Stockton  &  Darlington  Engine,  1825, 191 ;  the  Liverpool  &  Manchester  Rail- 
road, 18-26,  193;  Trial  of  Competing  Engines  at  Rainhill,  1829,  105;  the  Rocket 
and  the  Novelty,  198 ;  Atmospheric  Railways,  201 ;  Character  of  George  Ste- 


CONTENTS.  jx 

PAGE 

phenson,  204;  the  Locomotive  of  1S33, 204;  Introduction  of  Railroads  in  Europe, 
206  ;  Introduction  of  Railroads  in  the  United  States,  207 ;  John  Stevens's  Ex- 
perimental Railroad,  1325,  207 ;  Horatio  Allen  and  the  "  Stourbridge  Lion,"  1S29, 
208;  Peter  Cooper's  Engine,  1829,  209  ;  E.  L.  Miller  and  the  8.  C.  Railroad,  1830, 
210 ;  the  "  American  "  Type  of  Engine  of  John  B.  Jervis,  1832,  212  ;  Robert  L. 
Stevens  and  the  T-rail,  1830,  214 ;  Matthias  W.  Baldwin  and  his  Engine,  1831, 
•215  ;  Robert  Stcphenson  on  the  Growth  of  the  Locomotive,  220. 


CHAPTER    V. 
THE  MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 

THE  SECOND  PERIOD  OF  APPLICATION— 1800-1850— THE  STEAM-ENOINE  APPLIED 
TO  SIIIP-PKOPULSIOX 221 

Introduction,  221  ;  Ancient  Prophecies,  223;  the  Earliest  Paddle-Wheel,  223; 
Blasco  do  Garay's  Steam- Vessel,  1543,  224;  Experiments  of  Dionysius  Papin, 
1707,214;  Jonathan  llulls's  Steamer,  1736,  225;  Bernouilll  and  Gauthier,  228; 
William  Henry,  1782,  230 ;  the  Comte  d'Auxiron,  1772,  232 ;  the  Marquis  de 
Jouffroy,  1776,  233;  James  Rumsey,  1774,  234;  John  Fitch,  1785,  285;  Fitch's 
Experiments  on  the  Delaware,  1787,  237 ;  Fitch's  Experiments  at  New  York, 
1796,  240 ,  the  Prophecy  of  John  Fitch,  241 ;  Patrick  Miller,  1786-'87,  241 ;  Sam- 
uel Morey,  1793,  243;  Nathan  Read,  1788,  244;  Dundas  and  Syminington,  1801, 
246;  Henry  Bell  and  the  Comet,  1811,  248;  Nicholas  Roosevelt,  1798,  250; 
Robert  Fulton,  1802,  251 ;  Fulton's  Torpedo- Vessels,  1801,  252 ;  Fulton's  First 
Steamboat,  1S03,  258 ;  the  Clermont,  1807,  257 ;  Voyage  of  the  Clermont  to  Al- 
bany, 259 ;  Fulton's  Later  Steamboats,  260 ;  Fulton's  War-Steamer  Fulton  the 
First,  1815,  261;  Oliver  Evans,  1S04,  263;  John  Stevcns's  Screw-Steamer,  1804, 
2G4;  Stevens's  Steam-Boilers,  1804,  264;  Stevens's  Iron-Clad,  1812,  268;  Robert 
L.  Stevens's  Improvements,  270;  the  "Stevens  Cut-off."  1841,  276;  the  Stevens 
Iron-Clad,  1S37,  277;  Robert  L.  Thurston  and  John  Babcock.  1821,  230;  James 
P.  Allaire  and  the  Messrs.  Copeland,  281 ;  Erastus  W.  Smith's  Compound  Engine, 
2S3;  Steam-Navigation  on  Western  Rivers,  1811,  283;  Ocean  Steam-Navigation, 
1808,  285;  the  Savannah,  1819,  286;  the  Sirius  and  the  Great  Western,  1838,  289; 
the  Cunard  Line,  1840,  290  ;  the  Collins  Line,  1851,  291 ;  the  Side-Lever  En<rine, 
292 ;  Introduction  of  Screw-Steamers,  293 ;  John  Ericsson's  Screw- Vessels,  1806, 
294;  Francis  Pettit  Smith,  1837.  296;  the  Princeton,  1841,  297;  Advantages  of 
the  Screw,  299 ;  the  Screw  On  the  Ocean,  800 ;  Obstacles  to  Improvement,  301 ; 
Changes  in  Engine-Construction,  302 ;  Conclusion,  303. 

CHAPTER    VI. 
THE  STEAM-ENGINE  OF  TO-DAY. 

THE  PEP.IOD  or  REFINEMENT — 1850  TO  DATE 803 

Condition  of  the  Steam-Engine  at  this  Time,  803 ;  the  Later  Development  of 
the  Engine,  304 ,  Stationary  Steam-Engines.  307 ;  the  Steam-Engine  for  Small 
Powers,  307;  the  Horizontal  Engine  with  Meyer  Valve-Gear,  811 ;  the  Allen  En- 
pine,  314;  its  Performance,  316;  the  Detachable  Valve-Gear.  316;  the  Sickels 
Cut-off,  317;  Expansion  adjusted  by  the  Governor,  318;  the  Corliss  Engine,  319; 


CONTENTS. 

PAG! 

the  Greene  Engine,  321 ;  Perkins's  Experiments,  323 ;  Dr.  Alban's  Work,  825; 
the  Perkins  Compound  Engine,  827;  the  Modern  Pumping-Engine,  3','S ;  the 
Cornish  Engine,  328 ;  the  Steam-Pump,  331 ;  the  Worthington  Pumping-Engine, 
833;  the  Compound  Beam  and  Crank  Engine,  335;  the  Leavitt  Pumping-En- 
gine, 836;  the  Stationary  Steam-Boiler,  33S;  "Sectional"  Steam-Boilers,  343; 
"  Performance  "  of  Boilers,  344 ;  the  Semi-Portable  Engine,  34S ;  Performance  of 
Portable  Engines,  350;  their  Efficiency,  352;  the  Hoadley  Engine,  354;  the 
Mills  Farm  and  Eoad  Engine,  356 ;  Fisher's  Steam-Carnage,  356 ;  Performance 
of  Road-Engines,  35T ;  Trial  of  Road-Locomotives  by  the  Author,  358 ;  Conclu- 
sions, 858;  the  Steam  Fire-Engine,  360 ;  the  Rotary  Steam-Engine  and  Pump, 
865;  the  Modern  Locomotive,  868;  Dimensions  and  Performance,  373;  Com- 
pound Engines  for  Locomotives,  376 ;  Extent  of  Modern  Railroads,  378 ;  the 
Modem  Marine  Engine,  379;  the  American  Beam  Engine,  379;  the  Oscillating 
Engine  and  Feathering  Wheel,  381 ;  the  two  "  Rhode  Islands,"  382 ;  River-Boat 
Engines  on  the  Mississippi,  384 ;  Steam  Launches  and  Yachts,  386 ;  Marine 
Screw- Engines,  889 ;  the  Marine  Compound  Engine,  390 ;  its  Introduction  by 
John  Elder  and  others,  393;  Comparison  with  the  Single-Cylinder  Engine,  395; 
its  Advantages,  396;  the  Surface  Condenser,  897;  Weight  of  Machinery,  398; 
Marine  Engine  Performance,  898;  Relative  Economy  of  Simple  and  Compound 
Engines,  399 ;  the  Screw-Propeller,  899 ;  Chain-Propulsion,  or  Wire-Rope  Towage, 
402;  Marine  Steam-Boilers,  403 ;  the  Modern  Steamship,  405 ;  Examples  of  Mer- 
chant Steamers,  406 ;  Naval  Steamers— Classification,  4ii9;  Examples  of  Iron- 
Clad  Steamers,  412;  Power  of  the  Marine  Engine,  415;  Conclusion,  417. 


CHAPTER    VII. 

THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  THE  STEAM-ENGINE. 
HISTORY  OF  ITS  GROWTH  ;  ENERGETICS  AND  TIIESMO-DTNAMICS 

General  Outline,  419;  Origin  of  its  Power,  419;  Scientific  Principles  involved 
in  its  Operation,  420;  the  Beginnings  of  Modern  Science,  421 ;  the  Alexandrian 
Museum,  422 ;  the  Aristotelian  Philosophy,  424 ;  the  Middle  Ages,  426 ;  Galileo's 
Work,  423;  Da  Vinci  and  Stevinus,  429;  Kepler,  Hooke,  and  Huyghens,  429; 
Newton  and  the  New  Mechanical  Philosophy,  430 ;  the  Inception  of  the  Sci- 
ence of  Energetics,  483;  the  Persistence  of  Energy,  433;  Rumford's  Experi- 
ments, 431 ;  Fourier,  Carnot,  Seguin,  437  ;  Mayer  and  the  Mechanical  Equivalent 
of  Heat,  438 ;  Joule's  Determination  of  its  Value,  43S ;  Prof.  Rankine's  Investi- 
gations, 442;  Clausins— Thompson's  Principles,  444;  Experimental  Work  of 
Boyle,  Black,  and  Watt;  446;  Robifion's.  Dalton's,  lire's,  and  Blot's  Study  of 
Pressures  and  Temperatures  of  Steam,  447;  Arago's  and  Dulong's  Researches, 
447;  Franklin  Institute  Investigation,  447 ;  Cagniard  de  la  Tour— Faraday,  447 ; 
Dr.  Andrews  and  the  Critical  Point,  448;  Donny's  and  Dufour's  Researches, 
448;  Regnault's  Determination  of  Temperatures  and  Pressures  of  Steam,  449  ; 
Hirn's  Experiments,  450;  Resum6  of  the  Philosophy  of  the  Steam-Engine,  451  ,' 
Energy— Definitions  and  Principles,  451 ;  its  Measure.  452 ;  the  Laws  of  Energet- 
ics, 453 ;  Thermo-dynamics,  453 ;  its  Beginnings.  454 ;  its  Laws,  454 ;  Rankine's 
General  Equation,  455 ;  Rankine's  Treatise  on  the  Theory  of  lieat-Engines,  456 ; 
Merits  of  the  Great  Philosopher,  456. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 
THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  THE  STEAM-ENGINE. 

ITS  APPLICATION  ;  ITS  TEACHINGS  RESPECTING  THE  CONSTRUCTION  OF  THE  ENGINE 
AND  ITS  IMPROVEMENT 457 

Origin  of  all  Energy,  457;  the  Progress  of  Energy  through  Boiler  and  Engine, 
458 ;  Conditions  of  Heat-Development  in  tbe  Boiler,  45S ;  the  Steam  in  the  En- 
pine.  458;  the  Expansion  of  Steam,  459;  Conditions  of  Heat-Utilization,  460; 
Loss  of  Power  in  the  Engine,  402 ;  Conditions  affecting  the  Design  of  the  Steam- 
Kngine,  46G;  the  Problem  stated,  466;  Economy  as  affected  by  Pressure  and 
Temperature,  467 ;  Changes  which  have  already  occurred,  46S ;  Direction  of 
Changes  now  in  Progress,  470 ;  Summary  of  Facts,  471;  Characteristics  of  a 
Good  Steam-Engine,  473;  Principles  of  Steam-Boiler  Construction,  4TC. 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS. 


FRONTISPIECE  :  The  Grecian  Idea  of  the  Steam-Engine. 

PIG.  PAGE 

1.  Opening  Temple-Doors  by  Steam 6 

2.  Steam-Fountain,  B.  c.  200 7 

3.  Hero's  Steam-Engine,  B.  c.  200     .         .         .                  .         .         .  8 

4.  Porta's  Apparatus,  A.  D.  1601 14 

5.  De  Caus's  Apparatus,  A.  D.  1605 15 

6.  Branca's  Steam-Engine,  A.  D.  1629 17 

7.  Worcester's  Steam-Engine,  A.  D.  1650 21 

8.  Worcester's  Steam-Engine,  A.  D.  1665 22 

9.  Wall  of  Raglan  Castle 22 

10.  Huyghens's  Engine,  A.  D.  1680 26 

11.  Savery's  Model,  A.  D.  1698 34 

12.  Savery's  Engine,  A.  D.  1698 35 

13.  Savery's  Engine,  A.  D.  1702 37 

14.  Papin's  Two- Way  Cock 42 

15.  Desaguliers's  Engine,  A.  D.  1718 43 

16.  Papin's  Digester,  A.  D.  1680 48 

17.  Papin's  Engine 50 

18.  Papin's  Engine  and  Water-Wheel 53 

19.  Newcomen's  Engine,  A.  D.  1705 59 

20.  Beighton's  Valve-Gear,  A.  D.  1718     ......  63 

21.  Smeaton's  Newcomen  Engine 65 

22.  Boiler  of  Newcomen  Engine,  A.  D.  1763 67 

23.  Smeaton's  Portable-Engine  Boiler,  1765 73 

24.  The  Newcomen  Engine  Model 84 

25.  Watt's  Experiment 89 

26.  Watt's  Engine,  1774 98 

27.  Watt's  Engine,  1784 104 


Xiv  LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS. 

FIQ.  PAGE 

28.  Expansion  Diagram 108 

29.  Steam-Engine  Governor 115 

30.  Mercury  Steam-Gauge  and  Glass  Water-Gauge           .         .         .  117 

31.  Double-Acting  Engine,  1784 119 

32.  Valve-Gear,  Albion  Mills  Engine 121 

33.  Watt's  Half-Trunk  Engine,  1784          .         .         .         .         .         .122 

34.  Watt's  Steara-Hammer,  1784 123 

35.  Watt's  Workshop 129 

36.  Murdoch's  Oscillating  Engine,  1785 134 

37.  Hornblower's  Compound  Engine,  1781 136 

38.  Bull's  Pumping-Engine,  1798 139 

39.  Cartwright's  Engine,  1798 141 

40.  First  Railway  Car,  1825 144 

41.  Leopold's  Engine,  1720 148 

42.  Newton's  Steam-Carriage,  1680 149 

43.  Read's  Steam-Carriage,  1790 ]  50 

44.  Cugnot's  Steam-Carriage,  1770 151 

45.  Murdoch's  Steam-Carriage,  1784 153 

46.  Evans's  Non-Condensing  Engine,  1800 156 

47.  Evans's  "  Oruktor  Amphibolis,"  1804 157 

48.  Gurney's  Steam-Carriage 163 

49.  Hancock's  Steam-Carriage,  1833 168 

60.  Trevithick's  Locomotive,  1804 175 

61.  Stephenson's  Locomotive,  1815 187 

62.  Stephenson's  "  No.  1  "  Engine,  1825 191 

53.  Opening  of  Stockton  and  Darlington  Railroad,  1815     .         .         .192 

64.  Ericsson's  "  Novelty,"  1829 197 

55.  Stephenson's  "Rocket,"  1829 198 

56.  The  Atmospheric  Railroad 202 

57.  Stephenson's!  Locomotive,  1833    . 203 

58.  Stephenson's  Valve-Gear,  1833 206 

59.  Davis  &  Gartner's  "Atlantic,"  1832 210 

60.  The  "  Best  Friend,"  1830 211 

61.  The"  West  Point,"  1831 212 

62.  The  "  South  Carolina,"  1831     .......  213 

63.  The  Stevens  T-rail 215 

64.  "  Old  Ironsides,"  1832 216 

65.  The"  E.  P.  Miller,"  1834 217 

66.  Hulls's  Steamboat,  1736 226 

67.  Fitch's  Model,  1785 .  236 

68.  Fitch  &Voight's  Boiler,  1785 238 

69.  Fitch's  First  Steamboat,  1787 238 


LIST   OF  ILLUSTRATIONS.  xv 

F!G.  PAGB 

70.  Fitch's  Steamboat,  1788 239 

71.  Fitch's  Steamboat,  1796 240 

72.  Miller,  Taylor  &  Symmingtou's  Steamboat,  1788     .         .         .  242 

73.  Read's  Boiler,  1788 245 

74.  Read's  Boiler,  1788 245 

75.  The  "Charlotte  Dundas,"  1801 247 

76.  The  "Comet,"  1812 248 

77.  Fulton's  Experiment 253 

78.  Fulton's  Table  of  Resistances 254 

79.  Barlow's  Water-Tube  Boiler,  1793 256 

80.  The  "  Clermont,"  1807 258 

81.  Engine  of  the  "Clermont,"  1808 258 

82.  Launch  of  the  "Fulton  the  First,"  1804           ....  262 

83.  John  Stevens's  Sectional  Boiler,  1804 264 

8 1.  John  Stevens's  Engine  and  Boiler,  1804          ....  265 

85.  John  Stevens's  Single-Screw  Boat,  1804 265 

86.  John  Stevens's  Twin-Screw  Boat,  1805 269 

87.  The  Feathering  Paddle-Wheel 272 

83.  The  "North  America"  and  "Albany,"  1827-'30     ...  274 

89.  Stevens's  Return  Tubular  Boiler,  1832 275 

90.  Stevens's  Valve-Motion,  1841 276 

91.  The  "Atlantic,"  1851         .         .         .      *.         .  .         .291 

92.  The  Side-Lever  Engine,  1849 292 

93.  Vertical  Stationary  Steam-Engine 308 

94.  Vertical  Stationary  Steam-Engine.     Section   ....  309 

95.  British  Horizontal  Steam-Engine         .         .         .         .  .312 

96.  American  Horizontal  Steam-Engine 313 

97.  Corliss  Engine 319 

98.  Corliss  Valve-Gear 320 

99.  Greene  Engine            . 321 

100.  Greene  Valve-Gear 322 

101.  Cornish  Pumping-Engine 329 

102.  Steam-Pump 331 

103.  Worthington  Pumping-Engine.     Section 333 

104.  Worthington  Pumping-Engine 334 

105.  Compound  Pumping-Engine 335 

106.  Lawrence  Pumping-Engine 336 

107.  Leavitt  Pumping-Engine 337 

108.  Vertical  Tubular  Boiler 341 

109,.  Stationary  Tubular  Fire-Box  Boiler 342 

110.  Galloway  Tube 343 

111.  Harrison's  Sectional  Boiler 845 


xvi  LIST   OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

FIG.  PAGE 

112.  Babcock  and  Wilcox  Sectional  Boiler 346 

113.  Root  Sectional  Boiler 347 

114.  Semi-Portable  Engine  and  Boiler 348 

115.  Semi-Portable  Engine  and  Boiler 349 

116.  Portable  Steam-Engine 354 

117.  Agricultural  Road-Engine 355 

118.  Fisher's  Steam-Carriage 356 

119.  Road  and  Farm  Locomotive 357 

120.  The  Latta  Steam  Fire-Engine 361 

121.  The  Amoskeag  Steam  Fire-Engine 363 

122.  The  Silsby  Rotary  Fire-Engine 364 

123.  Rotary  Steam-Engine 365 

124.  Rotary  Pump 366 

125.  Tank  Locomotive 369 

126.  Forney's  Tank  Locomotive 370 

127.  British  Express  Engine 371 

128.  Baldrtin  Locomotive 372 

129.  American  Express  Engine 374 

130.  American  Beam  Engine 380 

131.  Oscillating  Steam-Engine 381 

132.  The  Two  "  Rhode  Islands,"  183G-1876            ....  383 

133.  Mississippi  Steamer 384 

134.  Steam-Launch 386 

135.  Launch  Engine 387 

136.  Naval  Screw  Engine 389 

137.  Compound  Marine  Engine 390 

138.  Compound  Marine  Engine 391 

139.  Screw  Propeller 400 

140.  Tug-Boat  Screw 401 

141.  Hirsch  Screw     .         .         . 401 

142.  Marine  Fire-Tubular  Boiler 403 

143.  Marine  High-Pressure  Boiler 404 

144.  Modern  Steamship 407 

145.  Modem  Iron-Clads .  410 

146.  The  "  Great  Eastern  " 415 

147.  The  "  Great  Eastern  "  at  Sea     .                                                   .  416 


POETRAITS. 


NO.  PAGE 

1.  Edward  Somerset,  Second  Marquis  of  Worcester      ...  20 

2.  Thomas  Savery 31 

3.  Denys  Papin 46 

4.  James  Watt 80 

5.  Matthew  Boulton 94 

6.  Oliver  Evans        .         . 154 

7.  Richard  Trevithick 174 

8.  John  Stevens 178 

9.  George  Stephenson 183 

10.  Robert  Fulton 251 

11.  Robert  L.  Stevens 270 

12.  John  Elder 393 

13.  Benjamin  Thompson,  Count  Rumford 434 

14.  James  Prescott  Joule           .                  439 

15.  W.  J.  M.  Rankine 443 

2 


["A  MACHINE,  receiving  at  distant  times  and  from  many  hands  new 
combinations  and  improvements,  and  becoming  at  last  of  signal  benefit  to 
mankind,  may  be  compared  to  a  rivulet  swelled  in  its  course  by  tributary 
streams,  until  it  rolls  along  a  majestic  river,  enriching,  in  its  progress,  prov- 
inces and  kingdoms. 

"In  retracing  the  current,  too,  from  where  it  mingles  with  the  ocean, 
the  pretensions  of  even  ample  subsidiary  streams  are  merged  in  our  admi- 
ration of  the  master-flood,  glorying,  as  it  were,  in  its  expansion.  But  as 
we  continue  to  ascend,  those  waters  which,  nearer  the  sea,  would  have  been 
disregarded  as  unimportant,  begin  to  rival  in  magnitude  and  share  our 
attention  with  the  parent  stream ;  until,  at  length,  on  our  approaching  the 
fountains  of  the  river,  it  appears  trickling  from  the  rock,  or  oozing  from 
among  the  flowers  of  the  valley. 

"  So,  also,  in  developing  the  rise  of  a  machine,  a  coarse  instrument  or  a 
toy  may  be  recognized  as  the  gerrn  of  that  production  of  mechanical  genius, 
whose  power  and  usefulness  have  stimulated  our  curiosity  to  mark  its 
changes  and  to  trace  its  origin.  The  same  feelings  of  reverential  gratitude 
which  attached  holiness  to  the  spot  whence  mighty  rivers  sprang,  also 
clothed  with  divinity,  and  raised  altars  in  honor  of,  inventors  of  the  saw, 
the  plough,  the  potter's  wheel,  and  the  loom."— STUAKT.] 


THE  GKOWTH  OF  THE  STEAM-ENGINE. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  STEAM-ENGINE  AS  A   SIMPLE  MACHINE. 


SECTION  I. — THE  PERIOD  OF  SPECULATION — FROM  HERO 
TO  WORCESTER,  B.  c.  200  TO  A.  D.  1650. 

ONE  of  the  greatest  of  modern  philosophers — the  found- 
er of  that  system  of  scientific  philosophy  which  traces  the 
processes  of  evolution  in  every  department,  whether  phys- 
ical or  intellectual — has  devoted  a  chapter  of  his  "  First 
Principles  "  of  the  new  system  to  the  consideration  of  the 
multiplication  of  the  effects  of  the  various  forces,  social  and 
other,  which  are  continually  modifying  this  wonderful  and 
mysterious  universe  of  which  we  form  a  part.  Herbert 
Spencer,  himself  an  engineer,  there  traces  the  wide-spread- 
ing, never-ceasing  influences  of  new  inventions,  of  the  intro- 
duction of  new  forms  of  mechanism,  and  of  the  growth  of 
industrial  organization,  with  a  clearness  and  a  conciseness 
which  are  so  eminently  characteristic  of  his  style.  His 
illustration  of  this  idea  by  reference  to  the  manifold  effects 
of  the  introduction  of  steam-power  and  its  latest  embodi- 
1 


2  THE  STEAM-ENGINE  AS   A  SIMPLE  MACHINE. 

ment,  the  locomotive-engine,  is  one  of  the  strongest  passages 
in  his  work.  The  power  of  the  steam-engine,  and  its  incon- 
ceivable importance  as  an  agent  of  civilization,  has  always 
been  a  favorite  theme  with  philosophers  and  historians  as 
well  as  poets.  As  Religion  has  always  been,  and  still  is, 
the  great  moral  agent  in  civilizing  the  world,  and  as  Science 
is  the  great  intellectual  promoter  of  civilization,  so  the 
•Steam-Engine  is,  in  modern  times,  the  most  important  phys- 
ical agent  in  that  great  work. 

It  would  be  superfluous  to  attempt  to  enumerate  the 
benefits  which  it  has  conferred  upon  the  human  race,  for 
such  an  enumeration  would  include  an  addition  to  every 
comfort  and  the  creation  of  almost  every  luxury  that  we 
now  enjoy.  The  wonderful  progress  of  the  present  century 
is,  in  a  very  great  degree,  due  to  the  invention  and  im- 
provement of  the  steam-engine,  and  to  the  ingenious  appli- 
cation of  its  power  to  kinds  of  work  that  formerly  taxed 
the  physical  energies  of  the  human  race.  We  cannot  exam- 
ine the  methods  and  processes  of  any  branch  of  industry 
without  discovering,  somewhere,  the  assistance  and  support 
of  this  wonderful  machine.  Relieving  mankind  from  man- 
ual toil,  it  has  left  to  the  intellect  the  privilege  of  directing 
the  power,  formerly  absorbed  in  physical  labor,  into  other 
and  more  profitable  channels.  The  intelligence  which  has 
thus  conquered  the  powers  of  Nature,  now  finds  itself  free 
to  do  head-work  ;  the  force  formerly  utilized  in  the  carry- 
ing of  water  and  the  hewing  of  wood,  is  now  expended  in 
the  God-like  work  of  THOUGHT.  What,  then,  can  be  more 
interesting  than  to  trace  the  history  of  the  growth  of  this 
wonderful  machine  ? — the  greatest  among  the  many  great 
creations  of  one  of  God's  most  beneficent  gifts  to  man — the 
power  of  invention. 

While  following  the  records  and  traditions  which  relate 
to  the  steam-engine,  I  propose  to  call  attention  to  the  fact 
that  its  history  illustrates  the  very  important  truth  :  Great 
inventions  are  never,  and  great  discoveries  are  seldom,  the 


THE   PERIOD   OF   SPECULATION.  3 

work  of  any  one  mind.  Every  great  invention  is  really 
either  an  aggregation  of  minor  inventions,  or  the  final  step 
of  a  progression.  It  is  not  a  creation,  but  a  growth — as 
truly  so  as  is  that  of  the  trees  in  the  forest.  Hence,  the 
same  invention  is  frequently  brought  out  in  several  coun- 
tries, and  by  several  individuals,  simultaneously.  Fre- 
quently an  important  invention  is  made  before  the  world  is 
ready  to  receive  it,  and  the  unhappy  inventor  is  taught,  by 
his  failure,  that  it  is  as  unfortunate  to  be  in  advance  of  his 
age  as  to  be  behind  it.  Inventions  only  become  successful 
when  they  are  not  only  needed,  but  when  mankind  is  so  far 
advanced  in  intelligence  as  to  appreciate  and  to  express  the 
necessity  for  them,  and  to  at  once  make  use  of  them. 

More  than  half  a  century  ago,  an  able  New  England 
writer,  in  a  communication  to  an  English  engineering 
periodical,  described  the  new  machinery  which  was  built 
at  Newport,  R.  L,  by  John  Babcock  and  Robert  L.  Thurs- 
ton,  for  one  of  the  first  steamboats  that  ever  ran  between 
that  city  and  New  York.  He  prefaced  his  description  with 
a  frequently-quoted  remark  to  the  effect  that,  as  Minerva 
sprang,  mature  in  mind,  in  full  stature  of  body,  and  com- 
pletely armed,  from  the  head  of  Jupiter,  so  the  steam-engine 
came  forth,  perfect  at  its  birth,  from  the  brain  of  James 
Watt.  But  we  shall  see,  as  we  examine  the  records  of  its 
history,  that,  although  James  Watt  was  an  inventor,  and 
probably  the  greatest  of  the  inventors  of  the  steam-engine, 
he  was  still  but  one  of  the  many  men  who  have  aided  in 
perfecting  it,  and  who  have  now  made  us  so  familiar  with 
it,  and  its  tremendous  power  and  its  facile  adaptations,  that 
we  have  almost  ceased  to  admire  it,  or  to  wonder  at  the 
workings  of  the  still  more  admirable  intelligence  that  has 
so  far  perfected  it. 

Twenty-one  centuries  ago,  the  political  power  of  Greece 
was  broken,  although  Grecian  civilization  had  risen  to  its 
zenith.  Rome,  ruder  than  her  polished  neighbor,  was  grow- 
ing continually  stronger,  and  was  rapidly  gaining  territory  by 


4  THE  STEAM-ENGINE  AS  A  SIMPLE  MACHINE. 

absorbing  weaker  states.  Egypt,  older  in  civilization  than 
either  Greece  or  Rome,  fell  but  two  centuries  later  before 
the  assault  of  the  younger  states,  and  became  a  Roman 
province.  Her  principal  city  was  at  this  time  Alexandria, 
founded  by  the  great  soldier  whose  name  it  bears,  when  in 
the  full  tide  of  his  prosperity.  It  had  now  become  a  great 
and  prosperous  city,  the  centre  of  the  commerce  of  the 
world,  the  home  of  students  and  of  learned  men,  and  its 
population  was  the  wealthiest  and  most  civilized  of  the  then 
known  world. 

It  is  among  the  relics  of  that  ancient  Egyptian  civiliza- 
tion that  we  find  the  first  records  in  the  early  history  of  the 
steam-engine.  In  Alexandria,  the  home  of  Euclid,  the  great 
geometrician,  and  possibly  contemporary  with  that  talented 
engineer  and  mathematician,  Archimedes,  a  learned  writ- 
er, called  Hero,  produced  a  manuscript  which  he  entitled 
"Spiritalia  seu  Pneumatica." 

It  is  quite  uncertain  whether  Hero  was  the  inventor  of 
any  number  of  the  contrivances  described  in  his  work.  It 
is  most  probable  that  the  apparatus  described  are  prin- 
cipally devices  which  had  either  been  long  known,  or 
which  were  invented  by  Ctesibus,  an  inventor  who  was 
famous  for  the  number  and  ingenuity  of  the  hydraulic  and 
pneumatic  machines  that  he  devised.  Hero  states,  in  his 
Introduction,  his  intention  to  describe  existing  machines 
and  earlier  inventions,  and  to  add  his  own.  Nothing  in  the 
text,  however,  indicates  to  whom  the  several  machines  are 
to  be  ascribed.1 

The  first  part  of  Hero's  work  is  devoted  to  applications 

1  The  British  Museum  contains  four  manuscript  copies  of  Hero's  "  Pneu- 
matics," which  were  written  in  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries.  These 
manuscripts  have  been  examined  with  great  care,  and  a  translation  from 
them  prepared  by  Prof.  J.  G.  Greenwood,  and  published  at  the  desire 
of  Mr.  Bennett  Woodcroft,  the  author  of  a  valuable  little  treatise  on 
"  Steam  Navigation."  This  is,  so  far  as  the  author  is  aware,  the  only 
existing  English  translation  of  any  portion  of  Hero's  works. 


THE  PERIOD   OF  SPECULATION.  5 

of  the  syphon.  The  llth  proposition  is  the  first  applica- 
tion of  heat  to  produce  motion  of  fluids. 

An  altar  and  its  pedestal  are  hollow  and  air-tight.  A 
liquid  is  poured  into  the  pedestal,  and  a  pipe  inserted,  of 
which  the  lower  end  passes  beneath  the  surface  of  the 
liquid,  and  the  upper  extremity  leads  through  a  figure  stand- 
ing at  the  altar,  and  terminates  in  a  vessel  inverted  above 
this  altar.  When  a  fire  is  made  on  the  altar,  the  heat  pro- 
duced expands  the  confined  air,  and  the  liquid  is  driven  up 
the  tube,  issuing  from  the  vessel  in  the  hand  of  the  figure 
standing  by  the  altar,  which  thus  seems  to  be  offering  a 
libation.  This  toy  embodies  the  essential  principle  of  all 
modern  heat-engines — the  change  of  energy  from  the  form 
known  as  heat-energy  into  mechanical  energy,  or  work.  It 
is  not  at  all  improbable  that  this  prototype  of  the  modern 
wonder-working  machine  may  have  been  known  centuries 
before  the  time  of  Hero. 

Many  forms  of  hydraulic  apparatus,  including  the  hand 
fire-engine,  which  is  familiar  to  us,  and  is  still  used  in 
many  of  our  smaller  cities,  are  described,  the  greater  num- 
ber of  which  are  probably  attributable  to  Ctesibus.  They 
demand  no  description  here. 

A  hot-air  engine,  however,  which  is  the  subject  of  his 
37th  proposition,  is  of  real  interest. 

Hero  sketches  and  describes  a  method  of  opening  tem- 
ple-doors by  the  action  of  fire  on  an  altar,  which  is  an 
ingenious  device,  and  contains  all  the  elements  of  the 
machine  of  the  Marquis  of  Worcester,  which  is  generally 
considered  the  first  real  steam-engine,  with  the  single  and 
vital  defect  that  the  expanding  fluid  is  air  instead  of  steam. 
The  sketch,  from  Greenwood's  translation,  exhibits  the  de- 
vice very  plainly.  Beneath  the  temple-doors,  in  the  space 
A  JS  CD,  is  placed  a  spherical  vessel,  H,  containing  water. 
A  pipe,  F  G,  connects  the  upper  part  of  this  sphere  with 
the  hollow  and  air-tight  shell  of  the  altar  above,  D  E. 
Another  pipe,  KL  M,  leads  from  the  bottom  of  the  ves- 


G 


THE   STEAM-ENGINE  AS  A  SIMPLE   MACHINE. 


sel,  IT,  over,  in  syphon-shape,  to  the  bottom  of  a  suspended 
bucket,  NX.  The  suspending  cord  is  carried  over  a  pulley 
and  led  around  two  vertical  barrels,  0  P,  turning  on  pivots 


fia.  1. — Opening  Temple-Doors  by  Steam,  u.  c.  200. 

at  their  feet,  and  carrying  the  doors  above.  Ropes  led  over 
a  pulley,  H,  sustain  a  counterbalance,  W. 

On  building  a  fire  on  the  altar,  the  heated  air  within  ex- 
pands, passes  through  the  pipe,  F  G,  and  drives  the  water 
contained  in  the  vessel,  Hy  through  the  syphon,  KLM, 
into  the  bucket,  NX.  The  weight  of  the  bucket,  which 
then  descends,  turns  the  barrels,  OP,  raises  the  counter- 
balance, and  opens  the  doors  of  the  temple.  On  extinguish- 
ing the  fire,  the  air  is  condensed,  the  water  returns  through 
the  syphon  from  the  bucket  to  the  sphere,  the  counterbal- 
ance falls,  and  the  doors  are  closed. 

Another  contrivance  is  next  described,  in  which  the 
bucket  is  replaced  by  an  air-tight  bag,  Avhich,  expanding  as 
the  heated  air  enters  it,  contracts  vertically  and  actuates 
the  mechanism,  which  in  other  respects  is  similar  to  that 
just  described. 

In  these  devices  the  spherical  vessel  is  a  perfect  antici- 


THE   PERIOD   OF  SPECULATION.  7 

pation  of  the  vessels  used  many  centuries  later  by  several 
so-called  inventors  of  the  steam-engine. 

Proposition  45  describes  the  familiar  experiment  of  a 
ball  supported  aloft  by  a  jet  of  fluid.  In  this  example 
steam  is  generated  in  a  close  cauldron,  and  issues  from  a 
pipe  inserted  in  the  top,  the  ball  dancing  on  the  issuing  jet. 

No.  47  is  a  device  subsequently  reproduced — perhaps 
reinvented  by  the  second  Marquis  of  Worcester. 


Fia.  2. — Steam  Fountain,  B.  c.  200. 

A  strong,  close  vessel,  A  JB  C  D,  forms  a  pedestal,  on 
which  are  mounted  a  spherical  vessel,  E F,  and  a  basin. 
A  pipe,  H  If,  is  led  from  the  bottom  of  the  larger  vessel 
into  the  upper  part  of  the  sphere,  and  another  pipe  from  the 
lower  part  of  the  latter,  in  the  form  of  a  syphon,  over  to 
the  basin,  M.  A  drain-pipe,  N  0,  leads  from  the  basin  to 
the  reservoir,  A  D.  The  whole  contrivance  is  called  "  A 
fountain  which  is  made  to  flow  by  the  action  of  the  sun's 
rays." 

It  is  operated  thus  :  The  vessel,  JEF,  being  filled  nearly 
to  the  top  with  water,  or  other  liquid,  and  exposed  to  the 
action  of  the  sun's  rays,  the  air  above  the  water  expands, 
and  drives  the  liquid  over,  through  the  syphon,  Gr,  into  the 
basin,  Mt  and  it  will  fall  into  the  pedestal,  A  B  C  D, 

Hero  goes  on  to  state  that,  on  the  removal  of  the  sun's 
rays,  the  air  in  the  sphere  will  contract,  and  that  the  water 


8  THE  STEAM-ENGINE  AS  A  SIMPLE  MACHINE. 

will  be  returned  to  the  sphere  from  the  pedestal.  This  can, 
evidently,  only  occur  when  the  pipe  G  is  closed  previous  to 
the  commencement  of  this  cooling.  No  such  cock  is  men- 
tioned, and  it  is  not  unlikely  that  the  device  only  existed  on 
paper. 

Several  steam-boilers  are  described,  usually  simple  pipes 
or  cylindrical  vessels,  and  the  steam  generated  in  them  by 
the  heat  of  the  fire  on  the  altar  forms  a  steam-blast.  This 
blast  is  either  directed  into  the  fire,  or  it  "  makes  a  black- 
bird sing,"  blows  a  horn  for  a  triton,  or  does  other  equally 
useless  work.  In  one  device,  No.  70,  the  steam  issues  from 
a  reaction-wheel  revolving  in  the  horizontal  plane,  and 
causes  dancing  images  to  circle  about  the  altar.  A  more 
mechanical  and  more  generally-known  form  of  this  device 
is  that  which  is  frequently  described  as  the  "  First  Steam 
Engine."  The  sketch  from  Stuart  is  similar  in  general 
form,  but  more  elaborate  in  detail,  than  that  copied  by 
Greenwood,  which  is  here  also  reproduced,  as  representing 
more  accurately  the  simple  form  which  the  mechanism  of 


FIG.  3.— Hero's  Engine,  B.  c.  200. 

the  "  ^Eolipile,"  or  Ball  of  ^Eolus,  assumed  in  those  early 
times. 

The  cauldron,  A  B,  contains  water,  and  is  covered  by  the 
steam-tight  cover,  CD.  A  globe  is  supported  above  the 
cauldron  by  a  pair  of  tubes,  terminating,  the  one,  C  M,  in  a 


THE   PERIOD   OF  SPECULATION.  9 

pivot,  L,  and  the  other,  E  F,  opening  directly  into  the 
sphere  at  G.  Short,  bent  pipes,  II  and  1C,  issue  from  points 
diametrically  opposite  each  other,  and  are  open  at  their 
extremities. 

A  fire  being  made  beneath  the  cauldron,  steam  is  formed 
and  finds  exit  through  the  pipe,  E  F  G,  into  the  globe, 
and  thence  rushes  out  of  the  pipes,  HIT,  turning  the  globe 
on  its  axis,  G  L,  by  the  unbalanced  pressure  thus  produced. 

The  more  elaborate  sketch  which  forms  the  frontis- 
piece represents  a  machine  of  similar  character.  Its  design 
and  ornamentation  illustrate  well  the  characteristics  of 
ancient  art,  and  the  Greek  idea  of  the  steam-engine. 

This  "^Eolipile  "  consisted  of  a  globe,  X,  suspended  be- 
tween trunnions,  G  0,  through  one  of  which  steam  enters 
from  the  boiler,  P,  below.  The  hollow,  bent  arms,  W  and 
Z,  cause  the  vapor  to  issue  in  such  directions  that  the  reac- 
tion produces  a  rotary  movement  of  the  globe,  just  as  the 
rotation  of  reaction  water-wheels  is  produced  by  the  out- 
flowing water. 

It  is  quite  uncertain  whether  this  machine  was  ever 
more  than  a  toy,  although  it  has  been  supposed  by  some 
authorities  that  it  was  actually  used  by  the  Greek  priests 
for  the  purpose  of  producing  motion  of  apparatus  in  their 
temples. 

It  seems  sufficiently  remarkable  that,  while  the  power  of 
steam  had  been,  during  all  the  many  centuries  that  man  has 
existed  upon  the  globe,  so  universally  displayed  in  so  many 
of  the  phenomena  of  natural  change,  that  mankind  lived 
almost  up  to  the  Christian  era  without  making  it  useful  in 
giving  motion  even  to  a  toy  ;  but  it  excites  still  greater 
surprise  that,  from  the  time  of  Hero,  we  meet  with  no  good 
evidence  of  its  application  to  practical  purposes  for  many 
hundreds  of  years. 

Here  and  there  in  the  pages  of  history,  and  in  special 
treatises,  we  find  a  hint  that  the  knowledge  of  the  force  of 
steam  was  not  lost ;  but  it  is  not  at  all  to  the  credit  of  biog- 


10  THE   STEAM-ENGINE  AS   A   SIMPLE   MACHINE. 

raphers  and  of  historians,  that  they  have  devoted  so  little 
time  to  the  task  of  seeking  and  recording  information  relat- 
ing to  the  progress  of  this  and  other  important  inventions 
and  improvements  in  the  mechanic  arts. 

Malmesbury  states1  that,  in  the  year  A.  D.  1125,  there 
existed  at  Rheims,  in  the  church  of  that  town,  a  clock  de- 
signed or  constructed  by  Gerbert,  a  professor  in  the  schools 
there,  and  an  organ  blown  by  air  escaping  from  a  vessel  in 
which  it  was  compressed  "  by  heated  water." 

Hieronymus  Cardan,  a  wonderful  mathematical  genius, 
a  most  eccentric  philosopher,  and  a  distinguished  physician, 
about  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century  called  atten- 
tion, in  his  writings,  to  the  power  of  steam,  and  to  the  fa- 
cility with  which  a  vacuum  can  be  obtained  by  its  con- 
densation. This  Cardan  was  the  author  of  "  Cardan's 
Formula,"  or  rule  for  the  solution  of  cubic  equations,  and 
was  the  inventor  of  the  "  smoke-jack."  He  has  been  called 
a  "  philosopher,  juggler,  and  madman."  He  was  certainly 
a  learned  mathematician,  a  skillful  physician,  and  a  good 
mechanic. 

Many  traces  are  found,  in  the  history  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  of  the  existence  of  some  knowledge  of  the  prop- 
erties of  steam,  and  some  anticipation  of  the  advantages 
to  follow  its  application.  Matthesius,  A.  D.  1571,  in  one  of 
his  sermons  describes  a  contrivance  which  may  be  termed 
a  steam-engine,  and  enlarges  on  the  "tremendous  results 
which  may  follow  the  volcanic  action  of  a  small  quantity  of 
confined  vapor ; " a  and  another  writer  applied  the  steam 
seolipile  of  Hero  to  turn  the  spit,  and  thus  rivaled  and  ex- 
celled Cardan,  who  was  introducing  his  "  smoke- jack." 

As  Stuart  says,  the  inventor  enumerated  its  excellent 
qualities  with  great  minuteness.  He  claimed  that  it  would 
"  eat  nothing,  and  giving,  withal,  an  assurance  to  those  par- 

1  Stuart's  "  Anecdotes." 

»"Berg-Postilla,  odor  Sarepta  von  Bergwcrk  und  Metallcn."  Nurem- 
berg, 1571. 


THE   PERIOD   OF   SPECULATION.  H 

taking  of  the  feast,  whose  suspicious  natures  nurse  queasy 
appetites,  that  the  haunch  has  not  been  pawed  by  the  turn- 
spit in  the  absence  of  the  housewife's  eye,  for  the  pleasure 
of  licking  his  unclean  fingers."  1 

Jacob  Besson,  a  Professor  of  Mathematics  and  Natural 
Philosophy  at  Orleans,  and  who  was.  in  his  time  distin- 
guished as  a  mechanician,  and  for  his  ingenuity  in  contriv- 
ing illustrative  models  for  use  in  his  lecture-room,  left  evi- 
dence, which  Beroaldus  collected  and  published  in  1578,* 
that  he  had  found  the  spirit  of  his  time  sufficiently  enlight- 
ened to  encourage  him  to  pay  great  attention  to  applied 
mechanics  and  to  mechanism.  There  was  at  this  time  a 
marked  awakening  of  the  more  intelligent  men  of  the  age 
to  the  value  of  practical  mechanics.  A  scientific  tract,  pub- 
lished at  Orleans  in  1569,  and  probably  written  by  Besson, 
describes  very  intelligently  the  generation  of  steam  by  the 
communication  of  heat  to  water,  and  its  peculiar  properties. 

The  French  were  now  becoming  more  interested  in  me- 
chanics and  the  allied  sciences,  and  philosophers  and  literati, 
of  native  birth  and  imported  by  the  court  from  other  coun- 
tries, were  learning  more  of  the  nature  and  importance  of 
such  studies  as  have  a  bearing  upon  the  work  of  the  engi- 
neer and  of  the  mechanic. 

Agostino  Ramelli,  an  Italian  of  good  family,  a  student 
and  an  artist  when  at  leisure,  a  soldier  and  an  engineer  in 
busier  times,  was  bom  and  educated  at  Rome,  but  subse- 
quently was  induced  to  make  his  home  in  Paris.  He  pub- 
lished a  book  in  1588,3  in  which  he  described  many  ma- 
chines, adapted  to  various  purposes,  with  a  skill  that  was 
only  equaled  by  the  accuracy  and  general  excellence  of  his 
delineations.  This  work  was  produced  while  its  author  was 

1  "  History  of  the  Steam-Enginc,"  1825. 

2  "  Theatrum   Instrumcntorum   et   Machinarum,   Jacobi   Bessoni,   cum 
Franc  Beroaldus,  figuarum  declaratione  demonstrativa."     Lugduni,  1578. 

3  "  Le  diverse  et  artificiose  machine  del  Capitano  Agostino  Ramelli, 
del  Ponte  dclla  Prefia."    Paris,  1588. 


12  THE   STEAM-ENGINE   AS  A  SIMPLE   MACHINE. 

residing  at  the  French  capital,  supported  by  a  pension  which 
had  been  awarded  him  by  Henry  III.  as  a  reward  for  long 
and  faithful  services. 

The  books  of  Besson  and  of  Ramelli  are  the  first  treatises 
of  importance  on  general  machinery,  and  were,  for  many 
years,  at  once  the  sources  from  which  later  writers  drew 
the  principal  portion  of  their  information  in  relation  to  ma- 
chinery, and  wholesome  stimulants  to  the  study  of  mechan- 
ism. These  works  contain  descriptions  of  many  machines 
subsequently  reinvented  and  claimed  as  new  by  other  me- 
chanics. 

Leonardo  da  Vinci,  well  known  as  a  mathematician,  en- 
gineer, poet,  and  painter,  of  the  sixteenth  century,  describes, 
it  is  said,  a  steam-gun,  which  he  calls  the  "  Architonnerre," 
and  ascribes  to  Archimedes.  It  was  a  machine  composed  of 
copper,  and  seems  to  have  had  considerable  power.  It  threw 
a  ball  weighing  a  talent.  The  steam  was  generated  by  per- 
mitting water  in  a  closed  vessel  to  fall  on  surfaces  heated 
by  a  charcoal  fire,  and  by  its  sudden  expansion  to  eject  the 
ball. 

In  the  year  1825,  the  superintendent  of  the  royal  Spanish 
archives  at  Simancas  furnished  an  account  which,  it  was 
said,  had  been  there  discovered  of  an  attempt,  made  in 
1543  by  Blasco  de  Garay,  a  Spanish  navy-officer  under 
Charles  V.,  to  move  a  ship  by  paddle-wheels,  driven,  as  was 
inferred  from  the  account,  by  a  steam-engine. 

It  is  impossible  to  say  to  how  much  credit  the  story  is 
entitled,  but,  if  true,  it  was  the  first  attempt,  so  far  as  is  now 
known,  to  make  steam  useful  in  developing  power  for  prac- 
tical purposes.  Nothing  is  known  of  the  form  of  the  engine 
employed,  it  only  having  been  stated  that  a  "  vessel  of  boil- 
ing water  "  formed  a  part  of  the  apparatus. 

The  account  is,  however,  in  other  respects  so  circum- 
stantial, that  it  has  been  credited  by  many ;  but  it  is  re- 
garded as  apocryphal  by  the  majority  of  writers  upon  the 
subject.  It  was  published  in  1826  by  M.  de  Navarrete,  in 


THE   PERIOD   OF   SPECULATION.  13 

Zach's  "Astronomical  Correspondence,"  in  the  form  of  a 
letter  from  Thomas  Gonzales,  Director  of  the  Royal  Ar- 
chives at  Simancas,  Spain. 

In  1601,  Giovanni  Battista  della  Porta,  in  a  work  called 
"  Spiritali,"  described  an  apparatus  by  which  the  pressure 
of  steam  might  be  made  to  raise  a  column  of  water.  It  in- 
cluded the  application  of  the  condensation  of  steam  to  the 
production  of  a  vacuum  into  which  the  water  would  flow. 

Porta  is  described  as  a  mathematician,  chemist,  and 
physicist,  a  gentleman  of  fortune,  and  an  enthusiastic  stu- 
dent of  science.  His  home  in  Naples  was  a  rendezvous 
for  students,  artists,  and  men  of  science  distinguished  in 
every  branch.  He  invented  the  magic  lantern  and  the 
camera  obscura,  and  described  it  in  his  commentary  on  the 
"  Pneumatica."  In  his  work,1  he  described  this  machine 
for  raising  water,  as  shown  in  Fig.  4,  which  differs  from  one 
shown  by  Hero  in  the  use  of  steam  pressure,  instead  of  the 
pressure  of  heated  air,  for  expelling  the  liquid. 

The  retort,  or  boiler,  is  fitted  to  a  tank  from  which  the 
bent  pipe  leads  into  the  external  air.  A  fire  being  kindled 
under  the  retort,  the  steam  generated  rises  to  the  upper 
part  of  the  tank,  and  its  pressure  on  the  surface  of  the 
water  drives  it  out  through  the  pipe,  and  it  is  then  led  to 
any  desired  height.  This  was  called  by  Porta  an  improved 
"  Hero's  Fountain,"  and  was  named  his  "  Steam  Fountain." 
He  described  with  perfect  accuracy  the  action  of  condensa- 
tion in  producing  a  vacuum,  and  sketched  an  apparatus  in 
which  the  vacuum  thus  secured  was  filled  by  water  forced 
in  by  the  pressure  of  the  external  atmosphere.  His  con- 
trivances were  not  apparently  ever  applied  to  any  practically 
useful  purpose.  We  have  not  yet  passed  out  of  the  age  of 
speculation,  and  are  just  approaching  the  period  of  applica- 
tion. Porta  is,  nevertheless,  entitled  to  credit  as  having  pro- 


1  " Pneumaticorum  libri  tres,"  etc.,  4to.    Naples,  1601.     "I  Tre  Libri 
dc'  Spiritali."     Napoli,  1606. 


14 


THE   STEAM-ENGINE   AS  A   SIMPLE   MACHINE. 


posed  an  essential  change  in  this  succession,  which  begins 
with  Hero,  and  which  did  not  end  with  Watt. 

The  use  of  steam  in  Hero's  fountain  was  as  necessary  a 
step  as,  although  less  striking  than,  any  of  the  subsequent 
modifications  of  the  machine.  In  Porta's  contrivance,  too, 
we  should  note  particularly  the  separation  of  the  boiler  from 


.  4.  —  Porta's  Apparatus,  A.  D.  1601. 


the  "  forcing  vessel  "  —  a  pmn  often  claimed  as  original  with 
later  inventors,  and  as  constituting  a  fair  ground  for  special 
distinction. 

The  rude  engraving  (Fig.  4)  above  is  copied  from  the 
book  of  Porta,  and  shows  plainly  the  boiler  mounted  above 
a  furnace,  from  the  door  of  which  the  flame  is  seen  issuing, 
and  above  is  the  tank  containing  water.  The  opening  in  the 
top  is  closed  by  the  plug,  as  shown,  and  the  steam  issuing 


THE   PERIOD   OF   SPECULATION. 


15 


from  the  boiler  into  the  tank  near  the  top,  the  water  is 
driven  out  through  the  pipe  at  the  left,  leading  up  from  the 
bottom  of  the  tank. 

Florence  Rivault,  a  Gentleman  of  the  Bedchamber  to 


FIG.  5.— De  Caus's  Apparatus,  A.  D.  1005. 


1G  THE   STEAM-ENGINE  AS   A   SIMPLE   MACHINE. 

Henry  IV.,  and  a  teacher  of  Louis  XIII.,  is  stated  by  M. 
Arago,  the  French  philosopher,  to  have  discovered,  as  early 
as  1605,  that  water  confined  in  a  bomb-shell  and  there  heat- 
ed would  explode  the  shell,  however  thick  its  walls  might 
be  made.  The  fact  was  published  in  Rivault's  treatise  on 
artillery  in  1608.  He  says  :  "  The  water  is  converted  into 
air,  and  its  vaporization  is  followed  by  violent  explosion." 

In  1615,  Salomon  de  Caus,  who  had  been  an  engineer 
and  architect  under  Louis  XIII.  of  France,  and  later  in  the 
employ  of  the  English  Prince  of  Wales,  published  a  work 
at  Frankfort,  entitled  "  Les  Raisons  des  Forces  Mouvantee, 
avec  diverses  machines  tant  utile  que  plaisante,"  in  which 
he  illustrated  his  proposition,  "  Water  will,  by  the  aid  of 
fire,  mount  higher  than  its  source,"  by  describing  a  machine 
designed  to  raise  water  by  the  expanding  power  of  steam. 

In  the  sketch  here  given  (Fig.  5),  and  which  is  copied 
from  the  original  in  "  Les  Raisons  des  Forces  Mouvantes," 
etc.,  A  is  the  copper  ball  containing  water ;  JB,  the  cock  at 
the  extremity  of  the  pipe,  taking  water  from  the  bottom,  C, 
of  the  vessel ;  2),  the  cock  through  which  the  vessel  is  filled. 
The  sketch  was  probably  made  by  De  Caus's  own  hand. 

The  machine  of  De  Caus,  like  that  of  Porta,  thus  consisted 
of  a  metal  vessel  partly  filled  with  water,  and  in  which  a  pipe 
was  fitted,  leading  nearly  to  the  bottom,  and  open  at  the 
top.  Fire  being  applied,  the  steam  formed  by  its  elastic 
force  drove  the  water  out  through  the  vertical  pipe,  raising 
it  to  a  height  limited  only  by  either  the  desire  of  the 
builder  or  the  strength  of  the  vessel. 

In  1629,  Giovanni  Branca,  of  the  Italian  town  of  Loretto, 
described,  in  a  work l  published  at  Rome,  a  number  of  in- 
genious mechanical  contrivances,  among  which  was  a  steam- 
engine  (Fig.  6),  iu  which  the  steam,  issuing  from  a  boiler, 
impinged  upon  the  vanes  of  a  hoyizontal  wheel.  This  it 
was  proposed  to  apply  to  many  useful  purposes. 

1  "  Le  Machine  deverse  del  Signior  Giovanni  Branca,  cittadino  Romano, 
Ingegniero,  Architetto  della  Sta.  Casa  di  Loretto."  Roma,  MDCXXIX. 


THE   PERIOD   OF   SPECULATION.  17 

At  this  time  experiments  were  in  progress  in  England 
which  soon  resulted  in  the  useful  application  of  steam- 
power  to  raising  water. 

A  patent,  dated  January  21, 1630,  was  granted  to  David 
Ramseye  l  by  Charles  I.,  which  covered  a  number  of  dis- 


FIG.  6.— Branca's  Steam-Engine,  A.  D.  1629. 

tinct  inventions.  These  were  :  "  1.  To  multiply  and  make 
saltpeter  in  any  open  field,  in  fower  acres  of  ground,  suffi- 
cient to  serve  all  our  dominions.  2.  To  raise  water  from 
low  pitts  by  fire.  3.  To  make  any  sort  of  mills  to  goe  on 
standing  waters  by  continual  motion,  without  help  of  wind, 
water,  or  horse.  4.  To  make  all  sortes  of  tapistrie  without 
any  weaving-loom,  or  waie  ever  yet  in  use  in  this  kingdome. 
5.  To  make  boats,  shippes,  and  barges  to  goe  against  strong 
wind  and  tide.  6.  To  make  the  earth  more  fertile  than  usual. 
7.  To  raise  water  from  low  places  and  mynes,  and  coal 
pitts,  by  a  new  waie  never  yet  in  use.  8.  To  make  hard 
iron  soft,  and  likewise  copper  to  be  tuffe  and  soft,  which  is 
not  in  use  in  this  kingdome.  9.  To  make  yellow  waxe  white 
verie  speedilie." 

This  seems  to  have  been  the  first  authentic  reference  to 

1  Rymer's  "Foedera,"  Sanderson.     Ewbank's  "  Hydraulics,"  p.  419. 


18  THE   STEAM-ENGINE  AS  A   SIMPLE   MACHINE. 

the  use  of  steam  in  the  arts  which  has  been  found  in  Eng- 
lish literature.  The  patentee  held  his  grant  fourteen  years, 
on  condition  of  paying  an  annual  fee  of  £3  Qs.  8d.  to  the 
Crown. 

The  second  claim  is  distinct  as  an  application  of  steam, 
the  language  being  that  which  was  then,  and  for  a  cen- 
tury and  a  half  subsequently,  always  employed  in  speaking 
of  its  use.  The  steam-engine,  in  all  its  forms,  was  at  that 
time  known  as  the  "fire-engine."  It  would  seem  not 
at  all  improbable  that  the  third,  fifth,  and  seventh  claims 
are  also  applications  of  steam-power. 

Thomas  Grant,  in  1632,  and  Edward  Ford,  in  1640,  also 
patented  schemes,  which  have  not  been  described  in  detail, 
for  moving  ships  against  wind  and  tide  by  some  new  and 
great  force. 

Dr.  John  Wilkins,  Bishop  of  Chester,  an  eccentric  but 
learned  and  acute  scholar,  described,  in  1648,  Cardan's 
smoke- jack,  the  earlier  zeolipiles,  and  the  power  of  the  con- 
fined steam,  and  suggested,  in  a  humorous  discourse,  what 
he  thought  to  be  perfectly  feasible — the  construction  of  a 
flying-machine.  He  says :  "  Might  not  a  '  high  pressure ' 
be  applied  with  advantage  to  move  wings  as  large  as  those 
of  the  'ruck's'  or  the  'chariot'?  The  engineer  might 
probably  find  a  corner  that  would  do  for  a  coal-station 
near  some  of  the  'castles'"  (castles  in  the  air).  The  rev- 
erened  wit  proposed  the  application  of  the  smoke-jack  to 
the  chiming  of  bells,  the  reeling  of  yarn,  and  to  rocking 
the  cradle. 

Bishop  Wilkins  writes,  in  1648  ("  Mathematical  Magic  "), 
of  aeolipiles  as  familiar  and  useful  pieces  of  apparatus,  and 
describes  them  as  consisting  "  of  some  such  material  as  may 
endure  the  fire,  having  a  small  hole  at  which  they  are  filled 
with  water,  and  out  of  which  (when  the  vessels  are  heated) 
the  air  doth  issue  forth  with  a  strong  and  lasting  violence." 
"  They  are,"  the  bishop  adds,  "  frequently  used  for  the  ex- 
citing and  contracting  of  heat  in  the  melting  of  glasses  or 


THE   PERIOD   OF  APPLICATION.  19 

metals.  They  may  also  be  contrived  to  be  serviceable  for 
sundry  other  pleasant  uses,  as  for  the  moving  of  sails  in  a 
chimney-corner,  the  motion  of  which  sails  may  be  applied 
to  the  turning  of  a  spit,  or  the  like." 

Kircher  gives  an  engraving  ("  Mundus  Subterraneus ") 
showing  the  last-named  application  of  the  aeolipile  ;  and 
Erckern  ("Aula  Subterranea,"  1672)  gives  a  picture  illus- 
trating their  application  to  the  production  of  a  blast  in  smelt- 
ing ores.  They  seem  to  have  been  frequently  used,  and  in  all 
parts  of  Europe,  during  the  seventeenth  century,  for  blow- 
ing fires  in  ho.uses,  as  well  as  in  the  practical  work  of  the 
various  trades,  and  for  improving  the  draft  of  chimneys. 
The  latter  application  is  revived  very  frequently  by  the 
modern  inventor. 

SECTION  II.  —  THE    PERIOD    OF  APPLICATION — WORCES- 
TER, PAPIN,  AND  SAVERT. 

We  next  meet  with  the  first  instance  in  which  the  ex- 
pansive force  of  steam  is  supposed  to  have  actually  been 
applied  to  do  important  and  useful  work. 

In  1663,  Edward  Somerset,  second  Marquis  of  Worces- 
ter, published  a  curious  collection  of  descriptions  of  his  in- 
ventions, couched  in  obscure  and  singular  language,  and 
called  "  A  Century  of  the  Names  and  Scantlings  of  Inven- 
tions by  me  already  Practised." 

One  of  these  inventions  is  an  apparatus  for  raising  wa- 
ter by  steam.  The  description  was  not  accompanied  by  a 
drawing,  but  the  sketch  here  given  (Fig.  7)  is  thought 
probably  to  resemble  one  of  his  earlier  contrivances  very 
closely. 

Steam  is  generated  in  the  boiler  a,  and  thence  is  led  into 
the  vessel  e,  already  nearly  filled  with  water,  and  fitted  up 
like  the  apparatus  of  De  Caus.  It  drives  the  water  in  a  jet 
out  through  the  pipe/.  The  vessel  e  is  then  shut  off  from 
the  boiler  a,  is  again  filled  through  the  pipe  h,  and  the  oper- 


20  THE   STEAM-ENGINE   AS  A  SIMPLE   MACHINE. 

ation  is  repeated.  Stuart  thinks  it  possible  that  the  mar- 
quis may  have  even  made  an  engine  with  a  piston,  and 
sketches  it.1  The  instruments  of  Porta  and  of  De  Caus 
were  "  steam  fountains,"  and  were  probably  applied,  if  used 
at  all,  merely  to  ornamental  purposes.  That  of  the  Mar- 


Edward  Somerset,  the  Second  Marquis  of  Worcester. 

quis  of  Worcester  was  actually  used  for  the  purpose  of 
elevating  water  for  practical  purposes  at  Vauxhall,  near 
London. 

How  early  this  invention  was  introduced  at  Raglan  Cas- 
tle by  Worcester  is  not  known,  but  it  was  probably  not 
much  later  than  1628.  In  1647  Dircks  shows  the  marquis 
probably  to  have  been  engaged  in  getting  out  parts  of  the 
later  engine  which  was  erected  at  Vauxhall,  obtaining  his 

1  "Anecdotes  of  the  Steam-Engine,"  vol.  i.,  p.  61. 


THE   PERIOD   OF   APPLICATION.  21 

materials  from  AVilliam  Lambert,  a  brass-founder.     His  pat- 
ent was  issued  in  June,  1663. 

We  nowhere  find  an  illustrated  description  of  the  ma- 
chine, or  such  an  account  as  would  enable  a  mechanic  to 


FIG.  T. — Worcester's  Steam  Fountain,  A.  D.  1650. 

reproduce  it  in  all  its  details.  Fortunately,  the  cells  and 
grooves  (Fig.  9)  remaining  in  the  wall  of  the  citadel  of 
Raglan  Castle  indicate  the  general  dimensions  and  arrange- 
ment of  the  engine ;  and  Dircks,  the  biographer  of  the  in- 
ventor, has  suggested  the  form  of  apparatus  shown  in  the 
sketch  (Fig.  8)  as  most  perfectly  in  accord  with  the  evidence 
there  found,  and  with  the  written  specifications. 

The  two  vessels,  A  A',  are  connected  by  a  steam-pipe, 
J)JB',  with  the  boiler,  C,  behind  them.  D  is  the  furnace. 
A  vertical  water-pipe,  E,  is  connected  with  the  cold- 
water  vessels,  A  A',  by  the  pipes,  FF',  reaching  nearly  to 
the  bottom.  Water  is  supplied  by  the  pipes,  GG',  with 
valves,  a  a',  dipping  into  the  well  or  ditch,  H.  Steam  from 


22 


THE   STEAM-ENGINE   AS   A   SIMPLE   MACHINE. 


the  boiler  being  admitted  to  each  vessel,  A  and  A',  alter- 
nately, and  there  condensing,  the  vacuum  formed  per- 
mits the  pressure  of  the  atmosphere  to  force  the  water 
from  the  well  through  the  pipes,  Gr  and  G'.  While  one  is 
filling,  the  steam  is  forcing  the  charge  of  water  from  the 
other  up  the  discharge-pipe,  E.  As  soon  as  each  is  emptied, 
the  steam  is  shut  off  from  it  and  turned  into  the  other,  and 
the  condensation  of  the  steam  remaining  in  the  vessel  per- 
mits it  to  fill  again.  As  will  be  seen  presently,  this  is  sub- 


FIG.  8. — Worcester's  Engine, 
A.  D.  1665. 


FIG.  9. -Wall  of  Kaglin  Castle. 


stantially,  and  almost  precisely,  the  form  of  engine  of  which 
the  invention  is  usually  attributed  to  Savery,  a  later  inventor. 

Worcester  never  succeeded  in  forming  the  great  com- 
pany which  he  hoped  would  introduce  his  invention  on  a 
scale  commensurate  with  its  importance,  and  his  fate  was 
that  of  nearly  all  inventors.  He  died  poor  and  unsuccessful. 

His  widow,  who  lived  until  1681,  seemed  to  have  be- 
come as  confident  as  was  Worcester  himself  that  the  inven- 
tion had  value,  and,  long  after  his  death,  was  still  endeav- 


THE   PERIOD   OF   APPLICATION.  33 

oring  to  secure  its  introduction,  but  with  equal  non-suc- 
cess. The  steam-engine  had  taken  a  form  which  made  it 
inconceivably  valuable  to  the  world,  at  a  time  when  no  more 
efficient  means  of  raising  water  was  available  at  the  most 
valuable  mines  than  horse-power ;  but  the  people,  greatly  as 
it  was  needed,  were  not  yet  sufficiently  intelligent  to  avail 
themselves  of  the  great  boon,  the  acceptance  of  which  was 
urged  upon  them  with  all  the  persistence  and  earnestness 
which  characterizes  every  true  inventor. 

Worcester  is  described  by  his  biographer  as  having  been 
a  learned,  thoughtful,  studious,  and  good  man — a  Romanist 
without  prejudice  or  bigotry,  a  loyal  subject,  free  from  par- 
tisan intolerance  ;  as  a  public  man,  upright,  honorable,  and 
humane  ;  as  a  scholar,  learned  without  being  pedantic  ;  as 
a  mechanic,  patient,  skillful,  persevering,  and  of  wonderful 
ingenuity,  and  of  clear,  almost  intuitive,  apprehension. 

Yet,  with  all  these  natural  advantages,  reinforced  as  they 
were  by  immense  wealth  and  influence  in  his  earlier  life, 
and  by  hardly  lessened  social  and  political  influence  when 
a  large  fortune  had  been  spent  in  experiment,  and  after  mis- 
fortune had  subdued  his  spirits  and  left  him  without  money 
or  a  home,  the  inventor  failed  to  secure  the  introduction  of 
a  device  which  was  needed  more  than  any  other.  Worces- 
ter had  attained  practical  success  ;  but  the  period  of  specu- 
lation was  but  just  closing,  and  that  of  the  application  of 
steam  had  not  quite  yet  arrived. 

The  second  Marquis  of  Worcester  stands  on  the  record 
as  the  first  steam-engine  builder,  and  his  death  marks  the 
termination  of  the  first  of  those  periods  into  which  we  have 
divided  the  history  of  the  growth  of  the  steam-engine. 

The  "  water-commanding  engine,"  as  its  inventor  called 
it,  was  the  first  instance  in  the  history  of  the  steam-engine  in 
which  the  inventor  is  known  to  have  "  reduced  his  invention 
to  practice." 

It  is  evident,  however,  that  the  invention  of  the  separate 
boiler,  important  as  it  was,  had  been  anticipated  by  Porta, 


24  THE   STEAM-ENGINE   AS   A   SIMPLE   MACHINE. 

and  does  not  entitle  the  marquis  to  the  honor,  claimed  for 
him  by  many  English  authorities,  of  being  the  inventor  of 
the  steam-engine.  Somerset  was  simply  one  of  those  whose 
works  collectively  made  the  steam-engine. 

After  the  time  of  Worcester,  we  enter  upon  a  stage  of 
history  which  may  properly  be  termed  a  period  of  applica- 
tion ;  and  from  this  time  forward  steam  continued  to  play 
a  more  and  more  important  part  in  social  economy,  and  its 
influence  on  the  welfare  of  mankind  augmented  with  a  rap- 
idly-increasing growth. 

The  knowledge  then  existing  of  the  immense  expansive 
force  of  steam,  and  the  belief  that  it  was  destined  to  submit 
to  the  control  of  man  and  to  lend  its  immense  power  in 
every  department  of  industry,  were  evidently  not  confined  to 
any  one  nation.  From  Italy  to  Northern  Germany,  and 
from  France  to  Great  Britain,  the  distances,  measured  in 
time,  were  vastly  greater  then  than  now,  when  this  won- 
derful genius  has  helped  us  to  reduce  weeks  to  hours  ; 
but  there  existed,  notwithstanding,  a  very  perfect  system 
of  communication,  and  the  learning  of  every  centre  was 
promptly  radiated  to  every  other.  It  thus  happened  that, 
at  this  time,  the  speculative  study  of  the  steam-engine  was 
confined  to  no  part  of  Europe  ;  inventors  and  experimenters 
were  busy  everywhere  developing  this  promising  scheme. 

Jean  Hautefeuille,  the  son  of  a  French  boulanger,  born 
at  Orleans,  adopted  by  the  Duchess  of  Bouillon  at  the  sug- 
gestion of  De  Sourdis,  profiting  by  the  great  opportunities 
offered  him,  entered  the  Church,  and  became  one  of  the 
most  learned  men  and  greatest  mechanicians  of  his  time. 
He  studied  the  many  schemes  then  brought  forward  by  in- 
ventors with  the  greatest  interest,  and  was  himself  prolific 
of  new  ideas. 

In  1678,  he  proposed  the  use  of  alcohol  in  an  engine, 
"  in  such  a  manner  that  the  liquid  should  evaporate  and  be 
condensed,  to.ur  a  tour,  without  being  wasted  "  l — the  first 
>  Stuart's  «  Anecdotes." 


THE   PERIOD   OF  APPLICATION.  25 

recorded  plan,  probably,  for  surface-condensation  and  com- 
plete retention  of  the  working-fluid.  He  proposed  a  gun- 
powder-engine, of  which 1  he  described  three  varieties. 

In  one  of  these  engines  he  displaced  the  atmosphere  by 
the  gases  produced  by  the  explosion,  and  the  vacuum  thus 
obtained  was  utilized  in  raising  water  by  the  pressure  of  the 
air.  In  the  second  machine,  the  pressure  of  the  gases 
evolved  by  the  combustion  of  the  powder  acted  directly 
upon  the  water,  forcing  it  upward  ;  and  in  the  third  design, 
the  pressure  of  the  vapor  drove  a  piston,  and  this  engine 
was  described  as  fitted  to  supply  power  for  many  purposes. 
There  is  no  evidence  that  he  constructed  these  machines, 
however,  and  they  are  here  referred  to  simply  as  indicating 
that  all  the  elements  of  the  machine  were  becoming  well 
known,  and  that  an  ingenious  mechanic,  combining  known 
devices,  could  at  this  time  have  produced  the  steam- 
engine.  Its  early  appearance  should  evidently  have  been 
anticipated. 

Hautefeuille,  if  we  may  judge  from  evidence  at  hand, 
was  the  first  to  propose  the  use  of  a  piston  in  a  heat-engine, 
and  his  gunpowder-engine  seems  to  have  been  the  first  ma- 
chine which  would  be  called  a  heat-engine  by  the  modern 
mechanic.  The  earlier  "  machines  "  or  "  engines,"  including 
that  of  Hero  and  those  of  the  Marquis  of  Worcester,  would 
rather  be  denominated  "  apparatus,"  as  that  term  is  used  by 
the  physicist  or  the  chemist,  than  a  machine  or  an  engine, 
as  the  terms  are  used  by  the  engineer. 

Huyghens,  in  1680,  in  a  memoir  presented  to  the  Acad- 
emy of  Sciences,  speaks  of  the  expansive  force  of  gunpow- 
der as  capable  of  utilization  as  a  convenient  and  portable 
mechanical  power,  and  indicates  that  he  had  designed  a 
machine  in  which  it  could  be  applied. 

This  machine  of  Huyghens  is  of  great  interest,  not  sim- 

1  "  Pcndule  Perpetuelle,  avcc  la  mantere  d'61evcr  d'cau  par  le  moyen  <Je 
Ja  poudre  a.  canon,"  Paris,  1678. 


26  THE  STEAM-ENGINE  AS  A   SIMPLE   MACHINE. 

ply  because  it  was  the  first  gas-engine  and  the  prototype  of 
the  very  successful  modern  explosive  gas-en- 
gine of  Otto  and  Langen,  but  principally  as 
having  been  the  first  engine  which  consisted  of 
a  cylinder  and  piston.  The  sketch  shows  its 
form.  It  consisted  of  a  cylinder,  A,  a  piston, 
_Z?,  two  relief -pipes,  C  C,  fitted  with  check- 
valves  and  a  system  of  pulleys,  f]  by  which  the 
weight  is  raised.  The  explosion  of  the  powder 

Ol  c  c  E  3  at  j2"expeis  the  air  fr0ni  the  cylinder.  When 
the  products  of  combustion  have  cooled,  the 
pressure  of  the  atmosphere  is  no  longer  counter- 
balanced by  that  of  air  beneath,  and  the  piston 
is  forced  down,  raising  the  weight.  The  plan 
was  never  put  in  practice,  although  the  inven- 
tion was  capable  of  being  made  a  working  and 


T 


1 


possibly  useful  machine. 


FIG.  10.— Huy-          At  about  this  period  the  English  attained 

ghens's  Engine,  .      .  .  *? 

1680.  some  superiority  over  their  neighbors  on  the 
Continent  in  the  practical  application  of  science 
and  the  development  of  the  useful  arts,  and  it  has  never  since 
been  lost.  A  sudden  and  great  development  of  applied  science 
and  of  the  useful  arts  took  place  during  the  reign  of  Charles 
II.,  which  is  probably  largely  attributable  to  the  interest 
taken  by  that  monarch  in  many  branches  of  construction  and 
of  science.  He  is  said  to  have  been  very  fond  of  mathematics, 
mechanics,  chemistry,  and  natural  history,  and  to  have  had 
a  laboratory  erected,  and  to  have  employed  learned  men  to 
carry  on  experiments  and  lines  of  research  for  his  satisfac- 
tion. He  was  especially  fond  of  the  study  and  investiga- 
tion of  the  arts  and  sciences  most  closely  related  to  naval 
architecture  and  navigation,  and  devoted  much  attention  to 
the  determination  of  the  best  forms  of  vessels,  and  to  the 
discovery  of  the  best  kinds  of  ship-timber.  His  brother, 
the  Duke  of  York,  was  equally  fond  of  this  study,  and  was 
his  companion  in  some  of  his  work. 


THE   PERIOD   OF  APPLICATION.  27 

Great  as  is  the  influence  of  the  monarch,  to-day,  in  form- 
ing the  tastes  and  habits  and  in  determining  the  direction 
of  the  studies  and  labors  of  the  people,  his  influence  was 
vastly  more  potent  in  those  earlier  days  ;  and  it  may  well 
be  believed  that  the  rapid  strides  taken  by  Great  Britain 
from  that  time  were,  in  great  degree,  a  consequence  of  the 
well-known  habits  of  Charles  II.,  and  that  the  nation,  which 
had  an  exceptional  natural  aptitude  for  mechanical  pur- 
suits, should  have  been  prompted  by  the  example  of  its  king 
to  enter  upon  such  a  course  as  resulted  in  the  early  attain- 
ment of  an  advanced  position  in  all  branches  of  applied 
science. 

The  appointment,  under  Sir  Robert  Moray,  the  superin- 
tendent of  the  laboratory  of  the  king,  of  Master  Mechanic, 
was  conferred  upon  Sir  Samuel  Morland,  a  nobleman  who, 
in  his  practical  knowledge  of  mechanics  and  in  his  ingenuity 
and  fruitfulness  of  invention,  was  apparently  almost  equal 
to  Worcester.  He  was  the  son  of  a  Berkshire  clergyman, 
was  educated  at  Cambridge,  where  he  studied  mathematics 
with  great  interest,  and  entered  public  life  soon  after.  He 
served  the  Parliament  under  Cromwell,  and  afterward  went 
to  Geneva.  He  was  of  a  decidedly  literary  turn  of  mind, 
and  wrote  a  history  of  the  Piedmont  churches,  which  gave 
him  great  repute  with  the  Protestant  party.  He  was  in- 
duced subsequently,  on  the  accession  of  Charles  II.,  to  take 
service  under  that  monarch,  whose  gratitude  he  had  earned 
by  revealing  a  plot  for  his  assassination. 

He  received  his  appointment  and  a  baronetcy  in  1660,  and 
immediately  commenced  making  experiments,  partly  at  his 
own  expense  and  partly  at  the  cost  of  the  royal  exchequer, 
which  were  usually  not  at  all  remunerative.  He  built  hand 
fire-engines  of  various  kinds,  taking  patents  on  them,  which 
brought  him  as  small  profits  as  did  his  work  for  the  king, 
and  invented  the  speaking-trumpet,  calculating  machines, 
and  a  capstan.  His  house  at  Vauxhall  was  full  of  curious 
devices,  the  products  of  his  own  ingenuity. 


28  THE   STEAM-ENGINE  AS  A  SIMPLE   MACHINE. 

He  devoted  much,  attention  to  apparatus  for  raising 
water.  His  devices  seem  to  have  usually  been  modifications 
of  the  now  familiar  force-pump.  They  attracted  much  at- 
tention, and  exhibitions  were  made  of  them  before  the  king 
and  queen  and  the  court.  He  was  sent  to  France  on  busi- 
ness relating  to  water-works  erected  for  King  Charles,  and 
while  in  Paris  he  constructed  pumps  and  pumping  appa- 
ratus for  the  satisfaction  of  Louis  XIV.  In  his  book,1  pub- 
lished in  Paris  in  1683,  and  presented  to  the  king,  and  an 
earlier  manuscript,2  still  preserved  in  the  British  Museum, 
Morland  shows  a  perfect  familiarity  with  the  power  of 
steam.  He  says,  in  the  latter  :  "  Water  being  evaporated 
by  fire,  the  vapors  require  a  greater  space  (about  two  thou- 
sand times)  than  that  occupied  by  the  water  ;  and,  rather 
than  submit  to  imprisonment,  it  will  burst  a  piece  of  ord- 
nance. But,  being  controlled  according  to  the  laws  of 
statics,  and,  by  science,  reduced  to  the  measure  of  weight 
and  balance,  it  bears  its  burden  peaceably  (like  good  horses), 
and  thus  may  be  of  great  use  to  mankind,  especially  for  the 
raising  of  water,  according  to  the  following  table,  which 
indicates  the  number  of  pounds  which  may  be  raised  six 
inches,  1,800  times  an  hour,  by  cylinders  half-filled  with 
water,  and  of  the  several  diameters  and  depths  of  said  cyl- 
inders." 

He  then  gives  the  following  table,  a  comparison  of 
which  with  modern  tables  proves  Morland  to  have  acquired 
a  very  considerable  and  tolerably  accurate  knowledge  of 
the  volume  and  pressure  of  saturated  steam  : 


1  "  Elevation  des  Eaux  par  toute  sortc  dc  Machines  reduite  a  la  Mcsure 
au  Poids  et  a  la  Balance,  presentee  a  Sa  Majeste  Tres  Chretienne,  par  le 
Chevalier  Morland,  Gentilhomme  Ordinaire  de  la  Chambre  Privec  et  Maistre 
de  Mechaniques  du  Roy  de  la  Grande  Bretagne,  1683." 

1  "  Les  Principes  de  la  Nouvelle  Force  dc  Feu,  invcntec  par  le  Chevalier 
Morland,  1'an  1682,  et  presentee  a  Sa  Majeste  Tres  Chretienne,  16S3." 


THE  PERIOD   OF  APPLICATION. 


29 


CTLINDEBS. 

POUNDS. 

Diameter  in  Feet 

Depth  in  Feet. 

Weight  to  be  Raised. 

i 

2 

15 

2 

4 

120 

3 

6 

405 

4 

8 

960 

5 

10 

1,876 

6 

10 

3,240 

1 

1 

12 

3,240 

0 

2 

12 

6,480 

o 

3 

12 

9,720 

4 

12 

12,960 

1 

5 

12 

16,200 

If 

6 

12 

19,440 

•5<2 

7 

12 

22,680 

fs 

8 
9 

12 
12 

25,920 
29,190 

If 

10 

12 

32,400 

g*O 

20 

12 

64,800 

9«j 

80 

12 

97,200 

=1 

40 

12 

129,600 

w* 

50 

12 

162,000 

"s 

60 

12 

194,400 

1 

70 

12 

226,800 

| 

80 

12 

259,200 

A 

90 

12 

291,600 

The  rate  of  enlargement  of  volume  in  the  conversion  of 
water  into  steam,  as  given  in  Morland's  book,  appears  re- 
markably accurate  wThen  compared  with  statements  made 
by  other  early  experimenters.  Desaguliers  gave  the  ratio 
of  volumes  at  14,000,  and  this  was  accepted  as  correct  for 
many  years,  and  until  Watt's  experiments,  which  were 
quoted  by  Dr.  Robison  as  giving  the  ratio  at  between 
1,800  and  1,900.  Morland  also  states  the  "  duty  "  of  his 
engines  in  the  same  manner  in  which  it  is  stated  by  engi- 
neers to-day. 

Morland  must  undoubtedly  have  been  acquainted  with 
the  work  of  his  distinguished  contemporary,  Lord  Worces- 
ter, and  his  apparatus  seems  most  likely  to  have  been  a  modi- 


30  THE   STEAM-ENGINE  AS  A   SIMPLE  MACHINE. 

fication — perhaps  improvement — of  Worcester's  engine.  His 
house  was  at  Vauxhall,  and  the  establishment  set  up  for  the 
king  was  in  the  neighborhood.  It  may  be  that  Morland  is 
to  be  credited  with  greater  success  in  the  introduction  of 
his  predecessor's  apparatus  than  the  inventor  himself. 

Dr.  Hutton  considered  this  book  to  have  been  the  ear- 
liest account  of  the  steam-engine,  and  accepts  the  date — 
1682 — as  that  of  the  invention,  and  adds,  that  "  the  project 
seems  to  have  remained  obscure  in  both  countries  till  1699, 
when  Savery,  who  probably  knew  more  of  Morland's  inven- 
tion than  he  owned,  obtained  a  patent,"  etc.  We  have, 
however,  scarcely  more  complete  or  accurate  knowledge  of 
the  extent  of  Morland's  work,  and  of  its  real  value,  than  of 
that  of  Worcester.  Morland  died  in  1696,  at  Hammersmith, 
not  far  from  London,  and  his  body  lies  in  Fulham  church. 

From  this  time  forward  the  minds  of  many  mechan- 
icians were  earnestly  at  work  on  this  problem — the  raising 
of  water  by  aid  of  steam.  Hitherto,  although  many  inge- 
nious toys,  embodying  the  principles  of  the  steam-engine 
separately,  and  sometimes  to  a  certain  extent  collectively, 
had  been  proposed,  and  even  occasionally  constructed,  the 
world  was  only  just  ready  to  profit  by  the  labors  of  invent- 
ors in  this  direction. 

But,  at  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century,  English 
miners  were  beginning  to  find  the  greatest  difficulty  in 
clearing  their  shafts  of  the  vast  quantities  of  water  which 
they  were  meeting  at  the  considerable  depths  to  which  they 
had  penetrated,  and  it  had  become  a  matter  of  vital  im- 
portance to  them  to  find  a  more  powerful  aid  in  that  work 
than  was  then  available.  They  were,  therefore,  by  their 
necessities  stimulated  to  watch  for,  and  to  be  prepared 
promptly  to  take  advantage  of,  such  an  invention  when  it 
should  be  offered  them. 

The  experiments  of  Papin,  and  the  practical  application 
of  known  principles  by  Savery,  placed  the  needed  appara- 
tus in  their  hands. 


THE  PERIOD   OF  APPLICATION. 


31 


THOMAS  SAYERT  was  a  member  of  a  well-known  family 
of  Devonshire,  England,  and  was  born  at  Shilston,  about 
1650.  He  was  well  educated,  and  became  a  military  engi- 
neer. He  exhibited  great  fondness  for  mechanics,  and  for 
mathematics  and  natural  philosophy,  and  gave  much  time 


Thomas  Saveiy. 

to  experimenting,  to  the  contriving  of  various  kinds  of 
apparatus,  and  to  invention.  He  constructed  a  clock,  which 
still  remains  in  the  family,  and  is  considered  an  ingenious 
piece  of  mechanism,  and  is  said  to  be  of  excellent  workman- 
ship. 

He  invented  and  patented  an  arrangement  of  paddle- 
wheels,  driven  by  a  capstan  *  for  propelling  vessels  in  calm 
weather,  and  spent  some  time  endeavoring  to  secure  its 
adoption  by  the  British  Admiralty  and  the  Navy  Board, 

1  Harris,  "  Lexicon  Technicum,"  London,  1710. 


32  THE   STEAM-ENGINE  AS  A  SIMPLE   MACHINE. 

but  met  with  no  success.  The  principal  objector  was  the 
Surveyor  of  the  Navy,  who  dismissed  Savery,  with  a  remark 
which  illustrates  a  spirit  which,  although  not  yet  extinct,  is 
less  frequently  met  with  in  the  public  service  now  than 
then  :  "  What  have  interloping  people,  that  have  no  con- 
cern with  us,  to  do  to  pretend  to  contrive  or  invent  things 
for  us  ?  " l  Savery  then  fitted  his  apparatus  into  a  small 
vessel,  and  exhibited  its  operation  on  the  Thames.  The 
invention  was  never  introduced  into  the  navy,  however. 

It  was  after  this  time  that  Savery  became  the  inventor  of 
a  steam-engine.  It  is  not  known  whether  he  was  familiar 
with  the  work  of  Worcester,  and  of  earlier  inventors.  Desa- 
guliers"  states  that  he  had  read  the  book  of  Worcester,  and 
that  he  subsequently  endeavored  to  destroy  all  evidence  of 
the  anticipation  of  his  own  invention  by  the  marquis  by  buy- 
ing up  all  copies  of  the  century  that  he  could  find,  and  burn- 
ing them.  The  story  is  scarcely  credible.  A  comparison  of 
the  drawings  given  of  the  two  engines  exhibits,  neverthe- 
less, a  striking  resemblance  ;  and,  assuming  that  of  the  mar- 
quis's engine  to  be  correct,  Savery  is  to  be  given  credit  for 
the  finally  successful  introduction  of  the  "  semi-omnipo- 
tent "  "  water-commanding  "  engine  of  Worcester. 

The  most  important  advance  in  actual  construction, 
therefore,  was  made  by  Thomas  Savery.  The  constant  and 
embarrassing  expense,  and  the  engineering  diificulties  pre- 
sented by  the  necessity  of  keeping  the  British  mines,  and 
particularly  the  deep  pits  of  Cornwall,  free  from  water,  and 
the  failure  of  every  attempt  previously  made  to  provide 
effective  and  economical  pumping-machinery,  were  noted  by 
Savery,  who,  July  25,  1698,  patented  the  design  of  the  first 
engine  which  was  ever  actually  employed  in  this  work.  A 
working-model  was  submitted  to  the  Royal  Society  of  Lon- 

1  "  Navigation  Improved  ;  or,  The  Art  of  Rowing  Ships  of  all  rates  in 
Calms,  with  a  more  Easy,  Swift,  and  Steady  Motion,  than  Oars  can,"  etc., 
etc.  By  Thomas  Savery,  Gent.  London,  1698. 

3  "  Experimental  Philosophy,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  405. 


THE  PERIOD   OF  APPLICATION.  33 

don  in  1699,  and  successful  experiments  were  made  with  it. 
Savery  spent  a  considerable  time  in  planning  his  engine  and 
in  perfecting  it,  and  states  that  he  expended  large  sums  of 
money  upon  it. 

Having  finally  succeeded  in  satisfying  himself  with  its 
operation,  he  exhibited  a  model  "  Fire-Engine,"  as  it  was 
called  in  those  days,  before  King  William  III.  and  his  court, 
at  Hampton  Court,  in  1698,  and  obtained  his  patent  with- 
out delay.  The  title  of  the  patent  reads  :  "  A  grant  to 
Thomas  Savery,  Gentl.,  of  the  sole  exercise  of  a  new  inven- 
tion by  him  invented,  for  raising  of  water,  and  occasioning 
motion  to  all  sorts  of  mill-works,  by  the  impellant  force  of 
fire,  which  will  be  of  great  use  for  draining  mines,  serving 
towns  with  water,  and  for  the  working  of  all  sorts  of  mills, 
when  they  have  not  the  benefit  of  water  nor  constant  winds  ; 
to  hold  for  14  years  ;  with  usual  clauses." 

Savery  now  went  about  the  work  of  introducing  his  in- 
vention in  a  way  which  is  in  marked  contrast  with  that 
usually  adopted  by  the  inventors  of  that  time.  He  com- 
menced a  systematic  and  successful  system  of  advertise- 
ment, and  lost  no  opportunity  of  making  his  plans  not 
merely  known,  but  well  understood,  even  in  matters  of  de- 
tail. The  Royal  Society  was  then  fully  organized,  and  at  one 
of  its  meetings  he  obtained  permission  to  appear  with  his 
model  "  fire-engine  "  and  to  explain  its  operation ;  and,  as 
the  minutes  read,  "  Mr.  Savery  entertained  the  Society  with 
showing  his  engine  to  raise  water  by  the  force  of  fire.  He 
was  thanked  for  showing  the  experiment,  which  succeeded, 
according  to  expectation,  and  was  approved  of."  He  pre- 
sented to  the  Society  a  drawing  and  specifications  of  his 
machine,  and  "  The  Transactions " '  contain  a  copperplate 
engraving  and  the  description  of  his  model.  It  consisted  of 
a  furnace,  A,  heating  a  boiler,  J3,  which  was  connected  by 

1  "  Philosophical  Transactions,  No.  252."  Weld's  "Eoyal  Society,"  vol. 
L,  p.  357.  Lowthorp's  "Abridgment,"  vol.  i. 


34 


THE   STEAM-ENGINE  AS   A   SIMPLE   MACHINE. 


FJG.  11.— Savery's  Model,  1698. 


pipes,  C  C,  with  two  copper  receivers,  D  D.  There  were 
led  from  the  bottom  of  these  receivers  branch  pipes,  FF, 
which  turned  upward,  and  were  united  to  form  a  rising 
main,  or  "forcing-pipe,"  G. 
From  the  top  of  each  receiver 
was  led  a  pipe,  which  was  turned 
downward,  and  these  pipes  united 
to  form  a  suction-pipe,  which 
was  led  down  to  the  bottom  of 
the  well  or  reservoir  from  which 
the  water  was  to  be  drawn.  The 
maximum  lift  allowable  was 
stated  at  24  feet. 

The  engine  was  worked  as 
follows  :  Steam  is  raised  in  the 
boiler,  B,  and  a  cock,  C,  being 
opened,  a  receiver,  J),  is  filled 
with  steam.  Closing  the  cock, 
C,  the  steam  condensing  in  the 

receiver,  a  vacuum  is  created,  and  the  pressure  of  the  at- 
mosphere forces  the  water  up,  through  the  supply-pipe, 
from  the  well  into  the  receiver.  Opening  the  cock,  (7,  again, 
the  check-valve  in  the  suction-pipe  at  E  closes,  the  steam 
drives  the  water  out  through  the  forcing-pipe,  6r,  the  clack- 
valve,  E)  on  that  pipe  opening  before  it,  and  the  liquid  is 
expelled  from  the  top  of  the  pipe.  The  valve,  C,  is  again 
closed  ;  the  steam  again  condenses,  and  the  engine  is  worked 
as  before.  While  one  of  the  two  receivers  is  discharging, 
the  other  is  filling,  as  in  the  machine  of  the  Marquis  of 
Worcester,  and  thus  the  steam  is  drawn  from  the  boiler 
with  tolerable  regularity,  and  the  expulsion  of  water  takes 
place  with  similar  uniformity,  the  two  systems  of  receivers 
and  pipes  being  worked  alternately  by  the  single  boiler. 
In  another  and  still  simpler  little  machine,1  which  he 

1  Bradley,  "New  Improvements  of  Planting  and  Gardening."    Switzer, 
"Hydrostatics,"  1729. 


THE   PERIOD   OF  APPLICATION.  35 

erected  at  Kensington  (Fig.  12),  the  same  general  plan 
was  adopted,  combining  a  suction-pipe,  A,  16  feet  long 
and  3  inches  in  diameter  ;  a  single  receiver,  B,  capable 
of  containing  13  gallons  ;  a  boiler,  (7,  of  about  40  gallons 


capacity  ;  a  forcing-pipe,  D,  42  feet  high,  with  the  con- 
necting pipe  and  cocks,  E  F  Gr ;  and  the  method  of 
operation  was  as  already  described,  except  that  surface- 
condensation  was  employed,  the  cock,  F,  being  arranged 
to  shower  water  from  the  rising  main  over  the  receiver, 
as  shown.  Of  the  first  engine  Switzer  says  :  "  I  have 
heard  him  say  myself,  that  the  very  first  time  he  played, 
it  was  in  a  potter's  house  at  Lambeth,  where,  though  it  was 
a  small  engine,  yet  it  (the  water)  forced  its  way  through 
the  roof,  and  struck  off  the  tiles  in  a  manner  that  surprised 
all  the  spectators." 

The  Kensington  engine  cost  £50,  and  raised  3,000  gal- 
lons per  hour,  filling  the  receiver  four  times  a  minute,  and 
required  a  bushel  of  coal  per  day.  Switzer  remarks  :  "  It 
must  be  noted  that  this  engine  is  but  a  small  one  in  com- 
parison with  many  others  that  are  made  for  coal-works  ; 
but  this  is  sufficient  for  any  reasonable  family,  and  other 


36  THE   STEAM-ENGINE   AS  A   SIMPLE   MACHINE. 

uses  required  of  it  in  watering  all  middling  gardens."  He 
cautions  the  operator :  "  When  you  have  raised  water 
enough,  and  you  design  to  leave  off  working  the  engine, 
take  away  all  the  fire  from  under  the  boiler,  and  open  the 
cock  (connected  to  the  funnel)  to  let  out  the  steam,  which 
would  otherwise,  were  it  to  remain  confined,  perhaps  burst 
the  engine." 

With  the  intention  of  making  his  invention  more  gener- 
ally known,  and  hoping  to  introduce  it  as  a  pumping-engine 
in  the  mining  districts  of  Cornwall,  Savery  wrote  a  pros- 
pectus for  general  circulation,  which  contains  the  earliest 
account  of  the  later  and  more  effective  form  of  engine.  He 
entitled  his  pamphlet  "  The  Miner's  Friend  ;  or,  A  Descrip- 
tion of  an  Engine  to  raise  Water  by  Fire  described,  and  the 
Manner  of  fixing  it  in  Mines,  with  an  Account  of  the  sev- 
eral Uses  it  is  applicable  to,  and  an  Answer  to  the  Objec- 
tions against  it."  It  was  printed  in  London  in  1702,  for 
S.  Crouch,  and  was  distributed  among  the  proprietors  and 
managers  of  mines,  who  were  then  finding  the  flow  of  water 
at  depths  so  great  as,  in  some  cases,  to  bar  further  progress. 
In  many  cases,  the  cost  of  drainage  left  no  satisfactory  mar- 
gin of  profit.  In  one  mine,  500  horses  were  employed  rais- 
ing water,  by  the  then  usual  method  of  using  horse-gins 
and  buckets. 

The  approval  of  the  King  and  of  the  Royal  Society,  and 
the  countenance  of  the  mine-adventurers  of  England,  were 
acknowledged  by  the  author,  who  addressed  his  pamphlet  to 
them. 

The  engraving  of  the  engine  was  reproduced,  with  the 
description,  in  Harris's  "  Lexicon  Technicum,"  1704  ;  in 
Switzer's  "  Hydrostatics,"  1729  ;  and  in  Desagulier's  "  Ex- 
perimental Philosophy,"  1744. 

The  sketch  which  here  follows  is  a  neater  engraving  of 
the  same  machine.  Savory's  engine  is  shown  in  Fig.  13, 
as  described  by  Savery  himself,  in  1702,  in  "  The  Miner's 
Friend." 


THE  PERIOD   OF  APPLICATION. 


37 


L  L  is  the  boiler  in  which  steam  is  raised,  and  through 
the  pipes  00  it  is  alternately  let  into  the  vessels  PP. 

Suppose  it  to  pass  into  the  left-hand  vessel  first.  The 
valve  M  being  closed,  and  r  being  opened,  the  water  con- 


FIG.  13.— Savery's  Engine,  A.  D.  1702. 

tained  in  P  is  driven  out  and  up  the  pipe  S  to  the  desired 
height,  where  it  is  discharged. 

The  valve  r  is  then  closed,  and  the  valve  in  the  pipe  0  ; 
the  valve  M  is  next  opened,  and  condensing  water  is  turned 
upon  the  exterior  of  P  by  the  cock  Y,  leading  water  from 
the  cistern  X.  As  the  steam  contained  in  P  is  condensed, 
forming  a  vacuum  there,  a  fresh  charge  of  water  is  driven 
by  atmospheric  pressure  up  the  pipe  T. 

Meantime,  steam  from  the  boiler  has  been  let  into  the 
right-hand  vessel  Pp,  the  cock  W  having  been  first  closed, 
and  R  opened. 


38  THE   STEAM-ENGIKE  AS   A   SIMPLE   MACHINE. 

The  charge  of  water  is  driven  out  through  the  lower 
pipe  and  the  cock  R,  and  up  the  pipe  S  as  before,  while  the 
other  vessel  is  refilling  preparatory  to  acting  in  its  turn. 

The  two  vessels  are  thus  alternately  charged  and  dis- 
charged, as  long  as  is  necessary. 

Savery's  method  of  supplying  his  boiler  with  water  was 
at  once  simple  and  ingenious. 

The  small  boiler,  D,  is  filled  with  water  from  any  con- 
venient source,  as  from  the  stand-pipe,  S.  A  fire  is  then 
built  under  it,  and,  when  the  pressure  of  steam  in  D  be- 
comes greater  than  in  the  main  boiler,  L,  a  communication 
is  opened  between  their  lower  ends,  and  the  water  passes, 
under  pressure,  from  the  smaller  to  the  larger  boiler,  which 
is  thus  "  fed  "  without  interrupting  the  work.  G  and  N 
are  gauge-cocks,  by  which  the  height  of  water  in  the  boilers 
is  determined  ;  they  were  first  adopted  by  Savery. 

Here  we  find,  therefore,  the  first  really  practicable  and 
commercially  valuable  steam-engine.  Thomas  Savery  is 
entitled  to  the  credit  of  having  been  the  first  to  introduce  a 
machine  in  which  the  power  of  heat,  acting  through  the 
medium  of  steam,  was  rendered  generally  useful. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  Savery,  like  the  Marquis  of 
"Worcester,  used  a  boiler  separate  from  the  water-reservoir. 

He  added  to  the  "  water-commanding  engine  "  of  the 
marquis  the  system  of  surface-condensation,  by  which  he 
was  enabled  to  charge  his  vessels  when  it  became  necessary 
to  refill  them  ;  and  added,  also,  the  secondary  boiler,  which 
enabled  him  to  supply  the  working-boiler  with  water  with- 
out interrupting  its  work. 

The  machine  was  thus  made  capable  of  working  uninter- 
ruptedly for  a  period  of  time  only  limited  by  its  own  decay. 

Savery  never  fitted  his  boilers  with  safety-valves,  al- 
though it  was  done  earlier  by  Papin  ;  and  in  deep  mines 
he  was  compelled  to  make  use  of  higher  pressures  than  his 
rudely-constructed  boilers  could  safely  bear. 

Savery's  engine  was  used  at  a  number  of  mines,  and 


THE  PERIOD   OF  APPLICATION.  39 

also  for  supplying  water  to  towns  ;  some  large  estates, 
country  houses,  and  other  private  establishments,  employed 
them  for  the  same  purpose.  They  did  not,  however,  come 
into  general  use  among  the  mines,  because,  according  to 
Desaguliers,  they  were  apprehensive  of  danger  from  the 
explosion  of  the  boilers  or  receivers.  As  Desaguliers  wrote 
subsequently  :  "  Savery  made  a  great  many  experiments 
to  bring  this  machine  to  perfection,  and  did  erect  several 
which  raised  water  very  well  for  gentlemen's  seats,  but 
could  not  succeed  for  mines,  or  supplying  towns,  where  the 
water  was  to  be  raised  very  high  and  in  great  quantities  ; 
for  then  the  steam  required  being  boiled  up  to  such  a 
strength  as  to  be  ready  to  tear  all  the  vessels  to  pieces." 
"  I  have  known  Captain  Savery,  at  York's  buildings,  to 
make  steam  eight  or  ten  times  stronger  than  common  air ; 
and  then  its  heat  was  so  great  that  it  would  melt  common 
soft  solder,  and  its  strength  so  great  as  to  blow  open  several 
joints  of  the  machine  ;  so  that  he  was  forced  to  be  at  the 
pains  and  charge  to  have  all  his  joints  soldered  with  spelter 
or  hard  solder." 

Although  there  were  other  difficulties  in  the  application 
of  the  Savery  engine  to  many  kinds  of  work,  this  was  the 
most  serious  one,  and  explosions  did  occur  with  fatal  re- 
sults. The  writer  just  quoted  relates,  in  his  "  Experimental 
Philosophy,"  that  a  man  who  was  ignorant  of  the  nature 
of  the  engine  undertook  to  work  a  machine  which  Desagu- 
liers had  provided  with  a  safety-valve  to  avoid  this  very 
danger,  "  and,  having  hung  the  weight  at  the  further  end  of 
the  steelyard,  in  order  to  collect  more  steam  in  order  to 
make  his  work  the  quicker,  he  hung  also  a  very  heavy 
plumber's  iron  upon  the  end  of  the  steelyard  ;  the  conse- 
quence proved  fatal ;  for,  after  some  time,  the  steam,  not 
being  able,  with  the  safety-cock,  to  raise  up  the  steelyard 
loaded  with  all  this  unusual  weight,  burst  the  boiler  with  a 
great  explosion,  and  killed  the  poor  man."  This  is  probably 
the  earliest  record  of  a  steam-boiler  explosion. 


40  THE   STEAM-ENGINE   AS  A  SIMPLE   MACHINE. 

Savery  proposed  to  use  his  engine  for  driving  mills  ;  but 
there  is  no  evidence  that  he  actually  made  such  an  applica- 
tion of  the  machine,  although  it  was  afterward  so  applied  by 
others.  The  engine  was  not  well  adapted  to  the  drainage  of 
surface-land,  as  the  elevation  of  large  quantities  of  water 
through  small  heights  required  great  capacity  of  receivers, 
or  compelled  the  use  of  several  engines  for  each  case.  The 
filling  of  the  receivers,  in  such  cases,  also  compelled  the 
heating  of  large  areas  of  cold  and  wet  metallic  surfaces  by 
the  steam  at  each  operation,  and  thus  made  the  work  com- 
paratively wasteful  of  fuel.  Where  used  in  mines,  they 
were  necessarily  placed  within  30  feet  or  less  of  the  lowest 
level,  and  were  therefore  exposed  to  danger  of  submergence 
whenever,  by  any  accident,  the  water  should  rise  above 
that  level.  In  many  cases  this  would  result  in  the  loss  of 
the  engine,  and  the  mine  would  remain  "drowned,"  unless 
another  engine  should  be  procured  to  pump  it  out.  Where 
the  mine  was  deep,  the  water  was  forced  by  the  pressure 
of  steam  from  the  level  of  the  engine-station  to  the  top  of 
the  lift.  This  compelled  the  use  of  pressures  of  several 
atmospheres  in  many  cases  ;  and  a  pressure  of  three  atmos- 
pheres, or  about  45  pounds  per  square  inch,  was  considered, 
in  those  days,  as  about  the  maximum  pressure  allow- 
able. This  difficulty  was  met  by  setting  a  separate  engine 
at  every  60  or  80  feet,  and  pumping  the  water  from  one  to 
the  other.  If  any  one  engine  in  the  set  became  disabled, 
the  pumping  was  interrupted  until  that  one  machine  could 
be  repaired.  The  size  of  Savery's  largest  boilers  was  not 
great,  their  maximum  diameter  not  exceeding  two  and  a 
half  feet.  This  made  it  necessary  to  provide  several  of  his 
engines,  usually,  for  a  single  mine,  and  at  each  level.  The 
first  cost  and  the  expense  of  repairs  were  exceedingly  seri- 
ous items.  The  expense  and  danger,  either  real  or  appar- 
ent, were  thus  sufficient  to  deter  many  from  their  use,  and 
the  old  method  of  raising  water  by  horse-power  was  ad- 
hered to. 


THE   PERIOD   OF  APPLICATION.  41 

The  consumption  of  fuel  with  these  engines  was  very 
great.  The  steam  was  not  generated  economically,  as  the 
boilers  used  were  of  such  simple  forms  as  only  could  then 
be  produced,  and  presented  too  little  heating  surface  to  se- 
cure a  very  complete  transfer  of  heat  from  the  gases  of 
combustion  to  the  water  within  the  boiler.  This  waste  in 
the  generation  of  steam  in  these  uneconomical  boilers  was 
followed  by  still  more  serious  waste  in  its  application,  with- 
out expansion,  to  the  expulsion  of  water  from  a  metallic 
receiver,  the  cold  and  wet  sides  of  which  absorbed  heat 
with  the  greatest  avidity.  The  great  mass  of  the  liquid  was 
not,  however,  heated  by  the  steam,  and  was  expelled  at  the 
temperature  at  which  it  was  raised  from  below. 

Savery  quaintly  relates  the  action  of  his  machine  in  "  The 
Miner's  Friend,"  and  so  exactly,  that  a  better  description 
could  scarcely  be  asked  :  "  The  steam  acts  upon  the  surface 
of  the  water  in  the  receiver,  which  surface  only  being  heated 
by  the  steam,  it  does  not  condense,  but  the  steam  gravitates 
or  presses  with  an  elastic  quality  like  air,  and  still  increasing 
its  elasticity  or  spring,  until  it  counterpoises,  or  rather  ex- 
ceeds, the  weight  of  the  column  of  water  in  the  force-pipe, 
which  then  it  will  necessarily  drive  up  that  pipe  ;  the  steam 
then  takes  some  time  to  recover  its  power,  but  it  will  at  last 
discharge  the  water  out  at  the  top  of  the  pipe.  You  may 
see  on  the  outside  of  the  receiver  how  the  water  goes  out, 
as  well  as  if  it  were  transparent ;  for,  so  far  as  the  steam  is 
contained  within  the  vessel,  it  is  dry  without,  and  so  hot  as 
scarcely  to  endure  the  least  touch  of  the  hand  ;  but  so  far 
as  the  water  is  inside  the  vessel,  it  will  be  cold  and  wet  on 
the  outside,  where  any  water  has  fallen  on  it ;  which  cold 
and  moisture  vanish  as  fast  as  the  steam  takes  the  place  of 
the  water  in  its  descent." 

After  Savery's  death,  in  1716,  several  of  these  engines 
were  erected  in  which  some  improvements  were  introduced. 
Dr.  Desaguliers,  in  1718,  built  a  Savery  engine,  in  which  he 
avoided  some  defects  which  he,  with  Dr.  Gravesande,  had 


43  THE   STEAM-ENGINE  AS  A  SIMPLE   MACHINE. 

noted  two  years  earlier.  They  had  then  proposed  to  adopt 
the  arrangement  of  a  single  receiver  which  had  been  used 
by  Savery  himself,  as  already  described,  finding,  by  experi- 
ment on  a  model  which  they  had  made  for  the  purpose, 
that  one  could  be  discharged  three  times,  while  the  same 
boiler  would  empty  two  receivers  but  once  each.  In  their 
arrangement,  the  steam  was  shut  back  in  the  boiler  while 
the  receiver  was  filling  with  water,  and  a  high  pressure  thus 
accumulated,  instead  of  being  turned  into  the  second  re- 
ceiver, and  the  pressure  thus  kept  comparatively  low. 

In  the  engine  built  in  1718,  Desaguliers  used  a  spherical 
boiler,  which  he  provided  with  the  lever  safety-valve  already 
applied  by  Papin,  and  adopted  a  comparatively  small  re- 
ceiver— one-fifth  the  capacity  of  the  boiler — of  slender  cy- 
lindrical form,  and  attached  a  pipe  leading  the  water  for 
condensation  into  the  vessel,  and  effected  its  distribution  by 
means  of  the  "  rose,"  or  a  "  sprinkling-plate,"  such  as  is  still 
frequently  used  in  modern  engines  having  jet-condensers. 
This  substitution  of  jet  for  surface-condensation  was  of 
very  great  advantage,  securing  great  promptness  in  the 
formation  of  a  vacuum  and  a  rapid  filling  of  the  receiver. 
A  "two-way  cock"  admitted  steam  to  the  receiver,  or, 


FIG.  14.— Papin's  Two- Way  Cock. 

being  turned  the  other  way,  admitted  the  cold  condensing 
water.  The  dispersion  of  the  water  in  minute  streams  or 
drops  was  a  very  important  detail,  not  only  as  securing  great 


THE   PERIOD   OF  APPLICATION. 


43 


rapidity  of  condensation,  but  enabling  the  designer  to  em- 
ploy a  comparatively  small  receiver  or  condenser. 

The  engine  is  shown  in  Fig.  15,  which  is  copied  from  the 
"  Experimental  Philosophy  "  of  Desaguliers. 


The  receiver,  A,  is  connected  to  the  boiler,  .Z?,  by  a 
steam-pipe,  (7,  terminating  at  the  two-way  cock,  D ;  the 
"  forcing-pipe,"  JE,  has  at  its  foot  a  check-valve,  f]  and  the 
valve  G  is  a  similar  check  at  the  head  of  the  suction-pipe. 
II  is  a  strainer,  to  prevent  the  ingress  of  chips  or  other 
bodies  carried  to  the  pipe  by  the  current ;  the  cap  above  the 
valves  is  secured  by  a  bridle,  or  stirrup,  and  screw,  I,  and 
may  be  readily  removed  to  clear  the  valves  or  to  renew 
them  ;  K  is  the  handle  of  the  two-way  cock  ;  M  is  the  in- 
jection-cock, and  is  kept  open  during  the  working  of  the 
engine  ;  L  is  the  chimney-flue  ;  N  and  0  are  gauge-cocks 
fitted  to  pipes  leading  to  the  proper  depths  within  the  boiler, 
the  water-line  being  somewhere  between  the  levels  of  their 
lower  ends  ;  P  is  a  lever  safety-valve,  as  first  used  on  the 


44  THE   STEAM-ENGINE   AS   A   SIMPLE   MACHINE. 

"  Digester "  of  Papin  ;  R  is  the  reservoir  into  which  the 
water  is  pumped  ;  T  is  the  flue,  leading  spirally  about  the 
boiler  from  the  furnace,  V,  to  the  chimney  ;  Y  is  a  cock 
fitted  in  a  pipe  through  which  the  rising-main  may  be  filled 
from  the  reservoir,  should  injection-water  be  needed  when 
that  pipe  is  empty. 

Seven  of  these  engines  were  built,  the  first  of  which 
was  made  for  the  Czar  of  Russia.  Its  boiler  had  a  capacity 
of  "  five  or  six  hogsheads,"  and  the  receiver,  "  holding  one 
hogshead,"  was  filled  and  emptied  four  times  a  minute. 
The  water  was  raised  "  by  suction  "  29  feet,  and  forced  by 
steam  pressure  11  feet  higher. 

Another  engine  built  at  about  this  time,  to  raise  water 
29  feet  "  by  suction,"  and  to  force  it  24  feet  higher,  made 
6  "  strokes  "  per  minute,  and,  when  forcing  water  but  6  or 
8  feet,  made  8  or  9  strokes  per  minute.  Twenty-five  years 
later  a  workman  overloaded  the  safety-valve  of  this  engine, 
by  placing  the  weight  at  the  end  and  then  adding  "  a  very 
heavy  plumber's  iron."  The  boiler  exploded,  killing  the 
attendant. 

Desagulier  says  that  one  of  these  engines,  capable  of 
raising  ten  tons  an  hour  38  feet,  in  1728  or  1729,  cost  £80, 
exclusive  of  the  piping. 

Blakely,  in  1766,  patented  an  improved  Savery  engine, 
in  which  he  endeavored  to  avoid  the  serious  loss  due  to  con- 
densation of  the  steam  by  direct  contact  with  the  water,  by 
interposing  a  cushion  of  oil,  which  floated  upon  the  water 
and  prevented  the  contact  of  the  steam  with  the  surface  of 
the  water  beneath  it.  He  also  used  air  for  the  same  pur- 
pose, sometimes  in  double  receivers,  one  supported  on  the 
other.  These  plans  did  not,  however,  prove  satisfactory. 

Rigley,  of  Manchester,  England,  soon  after  erected 
Savery  engines,  and  applied  them  to  the  driving  of  mills, 
by  pumping  water  into  reservoirs,  from  whence  it  returned 
to  the  wells  or  ponds  from  which  it  had  been  raised,  turning 
water-wheels  as  it  descended. 


THE  PERIOD   OF  APPLICATION.  45 

Such  an  arrangement  was  in  operation  many  years  at 
the  works  of  a  Mr.  Kiers,  St.  Pancras,  London.  It  is  de- 
scribed in  detail,  and  illustrated,  in  Nicholson's  "Philo- 
sophical Journal,"  vol.  L,  p.  419.  It  had  a  "wagon-boil- 
er" 7  feet  long,  5  wide,  and  5  deep;  the  wheel  was 
18  feet  in  diameter,  and  drove  the  lathes  and  other 
machinery  of  the  works.  In  this  engine  Blakely's  plan 
of  injecting  air  was  adopted.  The  injection-valve  was 
a  clack,  which  closed  automatically  when  the  vacuum  was 
formed. 

The  engine  consumed  6  or  7  bushels  of  good  coals,  and 
made  10  strokes  per  minute,  raising  70  cubic  feet  of  water 
14  feet,  and  developing  nearly  3  horse-power. 

Many  years  after  Savery's  death,  in  1774,  Smeaton  made 
the  first  duty-trials  of  engines  of  this  kind.  He  found  that 
an  engine  having  a  cylindrical  receiver  16  inches  in  diameter 
and  22  feet  high,  discharging  the  water  raised  14  feet  above 
the  surface  of  the  water  in  the  well,  making  12  strokes,  and 
raising  100  cubic  feet  per  minute,  developed  2f  horse- 
power, and  consumed  3  hundredweight  of  coals  in  four 
hours.  Its  duty  was,  therefore,  5,250,000  pounds  raised  one 
foot  per  bushel  of  84  pounds  of  coals,  or  62,500  "foot- 
pounds "  of  work  per  pound  of  fuel.  An  engine  of  slight- 
ly greater  size  gave  a  duty  about  5  per  cent,  greater. 

When  Louis  XIV.  revoked  the  edict  of  Nantes,  by 
which  Henry  IV.  had  guaranteed  protection  to  the  Protes- 
tants of  France,  the  terrible  persecutions  at  once  commenced 
drove  from  the  kingdom  some  of  its  greatest  men.  Among 
these  was  Denys  Papin. 

It  was  at  about  this  time  that  the  influence  of  the  at- 
mospheric pressure  on  the  boiling-point  began  to  be  ob- 
served, Dr.  Hooke  having  found  that  the  boiling-point  was 
a  fixed  temperature  under  the  ordinary  pressure  of  the  at- 
mosphere, and  the  increase  in  temperature  and  pressure  of 
steam  when  confined  having  been  shown  by  Papin  with  his 
"  Digester.'' 


46 


THE   STEAM-ENGINE  AS  A  SIMPLE   MACHINE. 


DENYS  PAPIN  was  of  a  family  which  had  attached  itself 
to  the  Protestant  Church  ;  but  he  was  given  his  education 
in  the  school  of  the  Jesuits  at  Blois,  and  there  acquired  his 
knowledge  of  mathematics.  His  medical  education  was 


Denys  Papin. 


given  him  at  Paris,  although  he  probably  received  his  de- 
gree at  Orleans.  He  settled  in  Paris  in  1672,  with  the 
intention  of  practising  his  profession,  and  devoted  all  his 
spare  time,  apparently,  to  the  study  of  physics. 

Meantime,  that  distinguished  philosopher,  Huyghens, 
the  inventor  of  the  clock  and  of  the  gunpowder-engine,  had 
been  induced  by  the  linen-draper's  apprentice,  Colbert,  now 
the  most  trusted  adviser  of  the  king,  to  take  up  his  resi- 
dence in  Paris,  and  had  been  made  one  of  the  earliest  mem- 
bers of  the  Academy  of  Science,  which  was  founded  at 
about  that  time.  Papin  became  an  assistant  to  Huyghens, 


THE   PERIOD   OF  APPLICATION.  47 

and  aided  him  in  his  experiments  in  mechanics,  having 
been  introduced  by  Madame  Colbert,  who  was  also  a  native 
of  Blois.  Here  he  devised  several  modifications  of  the  in- 
struments of  Guericke,  and  printed  a  description  of  them.1 
This  little  book  was  presented  to  the  Academy,  and  very 
favorably  noticed.  Papin  now  became  well  known  among 
contemporary  men  of  science  at  Paris,  and  was  well  re- 
ceived everywhere.  Soon  after,  in  the  year  1675,  as  stated 
by  the  Journal  des  Savants,  he  left  Paris  and  took  up  his 
residence  in  England,  where  he  very  soon  made  the  ac- 
quaintance of  Robert  Boyle,  the  founder,  and  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Royal  Society.  Boyle  speaks  of  Papin  as  having 
gone  to  England  in  the  hope  of  finding  a  place  in  which  he 
could  satisfactorily  pursue  his  favorite  studies. 

Boyle  himself  had  already  been  long  engaged  in  the 
study  of  pneumatics,  and  had  been  especially  interested  in 
the  investigations  which  had  been  original  with  Guericke. 
He  admitted  young  Papin  into  his  laboratory,  and  the 
two  philosophers  worked  together  at  these  attractive  prob- 
lems. It  was  while  working  with  Boyle  that  Papin  invented 
the  double  air-pump  and  the  air-gun. 

Papin  and  his  work  had  now  become  so  well  known, 
and  he  had  attained  so  high  a  position  in  science,  that  he 
was  nominated  for  membership  in  the  Royal  Academy,  and 
was  elected  December  16,  1680.  He  at  once  took  his  place 
among  the  most  talented  and  distinguished  of  the  great 
men  of  his  time. 

He  probably  invented  his  "  Digester  "  while  in  England, 
and  it  was  first  described  in  a  brochure  written  in  English, 
under  the  title,  "  The  New  Digester."  It  was  subsequently 
published  in  Paris.8  This  was  a  vessel,  B  (Fig.  16),  capable 
of  being  tightly  closed  by  a  screw,  D,  and  a  lid,  (7,  in 

1  "  Nouvelles  Experiences  du  Vuide,  avec  la  description  dcs  Machines 
qui  servent  a  le  faire."  Paris,  1674. 

*  "  La  maniere  d'amollir  les  os  et  de  faire  cuire  toutes  sortes  de  vi- 
andcs,"  etc. 


48 


THE   STEAM-ENGINE  AS  A   SIMPLE   MACHINE. 


which  food  could  be  cooked  in  water  raised  by  a  furnace, 
A,  to  the  temperature  due  to  any  desired  safe  pressure  of 
steam.  The  pressure  was  determined  and  limited  by  a 
weight,  W,  on  the  safety-valve  lever,  G.  It  is  probable  that 
this  essential  attachment  to  the  steam-boiler  had  previously 
been  used  for  other  purposes  ;  but  Papin  is  given  the 
credit  of  having  first  made  use  of  it  to  control  the  pressure 
of  steam. 


FIG.  16.— Papin's  Digester,  10SO. 


From  England,  Papin  went  to  Italy,  where  he  accepted 
membership  and  held  official  position  in  the  Italian  Acad- 
emy of  Science.  Papin  remained  in  Venice  two  years,  and 
then  returned  to  England.  Here,  in  1687,  he  announced  one 
of  his  inventions,  which  is  just  becoming  of  great  value  in  the 
arts.  He  proposed  to  transmit  power  from  one  point  to  an- 
other, over  long  distances,  by  the  now  well-known  "  pneu- 
matic "  method.  At  the  point  where  power  was  available, 


THE   PERIOD   OF  APPLICATION.  49 

he  exhausted  a  chamber  by  means  of  an  air-pump,  and,  lead- 
ing a  pipe  to  the  distant  point  at  which  it  was  to  be  utilized, 
there  withdrew  the  air  from  behind  a  piston,  and  the  press- 
ure of  the  air  upon  the  latter  caused  it  to  recede  into  the 
cylinder,  in  which  it  was  fitted,  raising  a  weight,  of  which 
the  magnitude  was  proportionate  to  the  size  of  the  piston 
and  the  degree  of  exhaustion.  Papin  was  not  satisfactorily 
successful  in  his  experiments  ;  but  he  had  created  the  germ 
of  the  modern  system  of  pneumatic  transmission  of  power. 
His  disappointment  at  the  result  of  his  efforts  to  utilize 
the  system  was  very  great,  and  he  became  despondent,  and 
anxious  to  change  his  location  again. 

In  1687  he  was  offered  the  chair  of  Mathematics  at 
Marburg  by  Charles,  the  Landgrave  of  Upper  Hesse,  and, 
accepting  the  appointment,  went  to  Germany.  He  remained 
in  Germany  many  years,  and  continued  his  researches  with 
renewed  activity  and  interest.  His  papers  were  published 
in  the  "  Acta  Eruditorum  "  at  Leipsic,  and  in  the  "  Philo- 
sophical Transactions  "  at  London.  It  was  while  at  Marburg 
that  his  papers  descriptive  of  his  method  of  pneumatic 
transmission  of  power  were  printed.1 

In  the  "Acta  Eruditorum"  of  1688  he  exhibited  a  prac- 
ticable plan,  in  which  he  exhausted  the  air  from  a  set  of 
engines  or  pumps  by  means  of  pumps  situated  at  a  long  dis- 
tance from  the  point  of  application  of  the  power,  and  at  the 
place  where  the  prime  mover — which  was  in  this  case  a 
water-wheel — was  erected. 

After  his  arrival  at  the  University  of  Marburg,  Papin 
exhibited  to  his  colleagues  in  the  faculty  a  modification  of 
Huyghens's  gunpowder-engine,  in  which  he  had  endeavored 
to  obtain  a  more  perfect  vacuum  than  had  Huyghens  in  the 
first  of  these  machines.  Disappointed  in  this,  he  finally 
adopted  the  expedient  of  employing  steam  to  displace  the 

1  "  Recucil  des  di  verses  Pieces  touch  ant  quelques  Nouvelles  Machines  et 
autres  Sujets  Philosophiques,"  M.  D.  Papin.  Cassel,  1695. 


50 


THE   STEAM-ENGINE  AS   A  SIMPLE   MACHINE. 


air,  and  to  produce,  "by  its  condensation,  the  perfect  vacuum 
which  he  sought  ;  and  he  thus  produced  the  first  steam-engine 
with  a  piston,  and  the  first  piston  steam-engine,  in  which 
condensation  was  produced  to  secure  a  vacuum.  It  was  de- 
scribed in  the  "  Acta  "  of  Leipsic,1  in  June,  1690,  under  the 
title,  "  Nova  Methodus  ad  vires  motrices  validissimas  leri 
pretio  comparandeo  "  ("  A  New  Method  of  securing  cheaply 
Motive  Power  of  considerable  Magnitude").  He  describes 
first  the  gunpowder-engine,  and  continues  by  stating  that, 
"  until  now,  all  experiments  have  been  unsuccessful  ;  and 
after  the  combustion  of  the  exploded  powder,  there  always 
remains  in  the  cylinder  about  one-fifth  its  volume  of  air." 
He  says  that  he  has  endeavored  to  arrive  by  another  route 
at  the  same  end  ;  and  "  as,  by  a  natural  property  of  water, 
a  small  quantity  of  this  liquid,  vaporized  by  the  action  of 
heat,  acquires  an  elasticity  like  that  of  the  air,  and  returns 
to  the  liquid  state  again  on  cooling,  without  retaining  the 
least  trace  of  its  elastic  force,"  he  thought  that  it  would  be 
easy  to  construct  machines  in  which,  "  by 
means  of  a  moderate  heat,  and  without 
much  expense,"  a  more  perfect  vacuum 
could  be  produced  than  could  be  secured 
by  the  use  of  gunpowder. 

The  first  machine  of  Papin  (Fig.  17) 
was  very  similar  to  the  gunpowder-en- 
gine already  described  as  the  invention 
of  Huyghens.  In  place  of  gunpowder,  a 
small  quantity  of  water  is  placed  at  the 
bottom  of  the  cylinder,  A  ;  a  fire  is  built 
beneath  it,  "  the  bottom  being  made  of 
very  thin  metal,"  and  the  steam  formed 
soon  raises  the  piston,  J5,  to  the  top, 
where  a  latch,  E,  engaging  a  notch  in 
the  piston-rod,  H,  holds  it  up  until  it  is  desired  that  it  shall 


FIO.  17.—  Papin' 


"  Acta  Eruditorum,"  Leipsic,  1690. 


THE   PERIOD   OF  APPLICATION.  51 

drop.  The  fire  being  removed,  the  steam  condenses,  and  a 
vacuum  is  formed  below  the  piston,  and  the  latch,  JE,  being 
disengaged,  the  piston  is  driven  down  by  the  superincumbent 
atmosphere  and  raises  the  weight  which  has  been,  meantime, 
attached  to  a  rope,  L,  passing  from  the  piston-rod  over  pul- 
leys, TT.  The  machine  had  a  cylinder  two  and  a  half  inches 
in  diameter,  and  raised  60  pounds  once  a  minute  ;  and 
Papin  calculated  that  a  machine  of  a  little  more  than  two 
feet  diameter  of  cylinder  and  of  four  feet  stroke  would  raise 
8,000  pounds  four  feet  per  minute — i.  e.,  that  it  would  yield 
about  one  horse-power. 

The  inventor  claimed  that  this  new  machine  would  be 
found  useful  in  relieving  mines  from  water,  in  throwing 
bombs,  in  ship -propulsion,  attaching  revolving  paddles — i.  e., 
paddle-wheels — to  the  sides  of  the  vessel,  which  wheels  were 
to  be  driven  by  several  of  his  engines,  in  order  to  secure 
continuous  motion,  the  piston-rods  being  fitted  with  racks 
which  were  to  engage  ratchet-Avheels  on  the  paddle-shafts. 

"  The  principal  difficulty,"  he  says,  answering  antici- 
pated objections,  "  is  that  of  making  these  large  cylinders." 

In  a  reprint  describing  his  invention,  in  1695,  Papin 
gives  a  description  of  a  "  newly-invented  furnace,"  a  kind 
of  fire-box  steam-boiler,  in  which  the  fire,  completely  sur- 
rounded by  water,  makes  steam  so  rapidly  that  his  engine 
could  be  driven  at  the  rate  of  four  strokes  per  minute  by 
the  steam  supplied  by  it. 

Papin  also  proposed  the  use  of  a  peculiar  form  of  fur- 
nace with  this  engine,  which,  embodying  as  it  does  some 
suggestions  that  very  probably  have  since  been  attributed 
to  later  inventors,  deserves  special  notice.  In  this  furnace, 
Papin  proposed  to  burn  his  fuel  on  a  grate  within  a  furnace 
arranged  with  a  down-draught,  the  air  entering  above  the 
grate,  passing  down  through  the  fire,  and  from  the  ash-pit 
through  a  side  flue  to  the  chimney.  In  starting  the  fire, 
the  coal  was  laid  on  the  grate,  covered  with  wood,  and  the 
latter  was  ignited,  the  flame,  passing  downward  through  the 


52  THE   STEAM-ENGINE  AS  A   SIMPLE   MACHINE. 

coal,  igniting  that  in  turn,  and,  as  claimed  by  Papin,  the 
combustion  was  complete,  and  the  formation  of  smoke  was 
entirely  prevented.  He  states,  in  "Acta  Eruditorum," 
that  the  heat  was  intense,  the  saving  of  fuel  very  great, 
and  that  the  only  difficulty  was  to  find  a  refractory  mate- 
rial which  would  withstand  the  high  temperature  attained. 

This  is  the  first  fire-box  and  flue  boiler  of  which  we  have 
record.  The  experiment  is  supposed  to  have  led  Papin  to 
suggest  the  use  of  a  hot-blast,  as  practised  by  Neilson  more 
than  a  century  later,  for  reducing  metals  from  their  ores. 

Papin  made  another  boiler  having  a  flue  winding  through 
the  water-space,  and  presenting  a  heating  surface  of  near- 
ly 80  square  feet.  The  flue  had  a  length  of  24  feet,  and 
was  about  10  inches  square.  It  is  not  stated  what  were 
the  maximum  pressures  carried  on  these  boilers  ;  but  it 
is  known  that  Papin  had  used  very  high  pressures  in  his 
digesters — probably  between  1,200  and  1,500  pounds  per 
square  inch. 

In  the  year  1705,  Leibnitz,  then  visiting  England,  had 
seen  a  Savery  engine,  and,  on  his  return,  described  it  to 
Papin,  sending  him  a  sketch  of  the  machine.  Papin  read 
the  letter  and  exhibited  the  sketch  to  the  Landgrave  of 
Hesse,  and  Charles  at  once  urged  him  to  endeavor  to  perfect 
his  own  machine,  and  to  continue  the  researches  which  he 
had  been  intermittently  pursuing  since  the  earlier  machine 
had  been  exhibited  in  public. 

In  a  small  pamphlet  printed  at  Cassel  in  1707,1  Papin 
describes  a  new  form  of  engine,  in  which  he  discards  the 
original  plan  of  a  modified  Huyghens  engine,  with  tight- 
fitting  piston  and  cylinder,  raising  its  load  by  indirect  ac- 
tion, and  makes  a  modified  Savery  engine,  which  he  calls 
the  "Elector's  Engine,"  in  honor  of  his  patron.  This  is 
the  engine  shown  in  the  engraving,  and  as  proposed  to  be 
used  by  him  in  turning  a  water-wheel. 

1  "Nouvelle  maniere  d' clever  1'Eau  par  la  Force  du  Feu,  mis  en  Lu- 
miere,"  par  D.  Papin.  Cassel,  1707. 


THE   PERIOD   OF  APPLICATION. 


53 


The  sketch  is  that  given  by  the  inventor  in  his  memoir. 
It  consists  (Fig.  18)  of  a  steam-boiler,  a,  from  which  steam  is" 
led  through  the  cock,  c,  to  the  working  cylinder,  n.  The  water 
beneath  the  floating-piston,  h,  which  latter  serves  simply  as 
a  cushion  to  protect  the  steam  from  sudden  condensation  or 
contact  with  the  water,  is  forced  into  the  vessel  r  r,  which 


FIG.  IS.— Papin's  Engine  and  Water- Wheel,  A.  D.  170T. 

is  a  large  air-chamber,  and  which  serves  to  render  the  out- 
flow of  water  comparatively  uniform,  and  the  discharge  oc- 
curs by  means  of  the  pipe  ff,  from  which  the  water  rises  to 
the  desired  height.  A  fresh  supply  of  water  is  introduced 
through  the  funnel  k,  after  condensation  of  the  steam  in  n, 
and  the  operation  of  expulsion  is  repeated. 

This  machine  is  evidently  a  retrogression,  and  Papin, 
after  having  earned  the  honor  of  having  invented  the  first 
steam-engine  of  the  typical  form  which  has  since  become 
so  universally  applied,  forfeited  that  credit  by  his  evident 
ignorance  of  its  superiority  over  existing  devices,  and  by 
attempting  unsuccessfully  to  perfect  the  inferior  device  of 
another  inventor. 

Subsequently,  Papin  made  an  attempt  to  apply  the 
steam-engine  to  the  propulsion  of  vessels,  the  account  of 
which  will  be  given  in  the  chapter  on  Steam-Navigation. 

Again  disappointed,  Papin  once  more  visited  England, 


54  THE  STEAM-ENGINE   AS  A  SIMPLE   MACHINE. 

to  renew  his  acquaintance  with  the  savans  of  the  Royal 
Society ;  but  Boyle  had  died  during  the  period  which  Pa- 
pin  had  spent  in  Germany,  and  the  unhappy  and  disheart- 
ened inventor  and  philosopher  died  in  1810,  without  having 
seen  any  one  of  his  many  devices  and  ingenious  inventions 
a  practical  success. 


CHAPTER  H. 

THE  STEAM-ENGINE  AS  A  TRAIN  OF  MECHANISM. 

"  THE  introduction  of  new  Inventions  seemeth  to  be  the  very  chief  of 
all  human  Actions.  The  Benefits  of  new  Inventions  may  extend  to  all 
Mankind  universally ;  but  the  Good  of  political  Achievements  can  respect 
but  some  particular  Cantons  of  Men ;  these  latter  do  not  endure  above  a 
few  Ages,  the  former  forever.  Inventions  make  all  Men  happy,  without 
either  Injury  or  Damage  to  any  one  single  Person.  Furthermore,  new 
Inventions  are,  as  it  were,  new  Erections  and  Imitations  of  God's  own 
Works." — BACON. 

TUB    MODERN    TYPE,    AS    DEVELOPED    BY    NEWCOMER, 
BEIGHTON,   AND    SMEATON. 

AT  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century  every  ele- 
ment of  the  modern  type  of  steam-engine  had  been  sepa- 
rately invented  and  practically  applied.  The  character  of 
atmospheric  pressure,  and  of  the  pressure  of  gases,  had  be- 
come understood.  The  nature  of  a  vacuum  was  known, 
and  the  method  of  obtaining  it  by  the  displacement  of  the 
air  by  steam,  and  by  the  condensation  of  the  vapor,  was 
understood.  The  importance  of  utilizing  the  power  of  steam, 
and  the  application  of  condensation  in  the  removal  of  at- 
mospheric pressure,  was  not  only  recognized,  but  had  been 
actually  and  successfully  attempted  by  Morland,  Papin, 
and  Savery. 

Mechanicians  had  succeeded  in  making  steam-boilers 
capable  of  sustaining  any  desired  or  any  useful  pressure, 
and  Papin  had  shown  how  to  make  them  comparatively  safe 


56      THE   STEAM-ENGINE   AS  A   TRAIN   OF   MECHANISM. 

by  the  attachment  of  the  safety-valve.  They  had  made 
steam-cylinders  fitted  with  pistons,  and  had  used  such  a 
combination  in  the  development  of  power. 

It  now  only  remained  for  the  engineer  to  combine  known 
forms  of  mechanism  in  a  practical  machine  which  should  be 
capable  of  economically  and  conveniently  utilizing  the  pow- 
er of  steam  through  the  application  of  now  well-understood 
principles,  and  by  the  intelligent  combination  of  physical 
phenomena  already  familiar  to  scientific  investigators. 

Every  essential  fact  and  every  vital  principle  had  been 
learned,  and  every  one  of  the  needed  mechanical  combina- 
tions had  been  successfully  effected.  It  was  only  requisite 
that  an  inventor  should  appear,  capable  of  perceiving  that 
these  known  facts  and  combinations  of  mechanism,  prop- 
erly illustrated  in  a  working  machine,  would  present  to  the 
world  its  greatest  physical  blessing. 

The  defects  of  the  simple  engines  constructed  up  to  this 
time  have  been  noted  as  each  has  been  described.  None  of 
them  could  be  depended  upon  for  safe,  economical,  and  con- 
tinuous work.  Savery's  was  the  most  successful  of  all.  But 
the  engine  of  Savery,  even  with  the  improvements  of  De- 
saguliers,  was  unsafe  where  most  needed,  because  of  the 
high  pressures  necessarily  carried  in  its  boilers  when  pump- 
ing from  considerable  depths  ;  it  was  uneconomical,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  great  loss  of  heat  in  its  forcing-cylinders 
when  the  hot  steam  was  sun-ounded  at  its  entrance  by  colder 
bodies  ;  it  was  slow  in  operation,  of  great  first  cost,  and 
expensive  in  first  cost  and  in  repairs,  as  well  as  in  its  opera- 
tion. It  could  not  be  relied  upon  to  do  its  work  uninter- 
ruptedly, and  was  thus  in  many  respects  a  very  unsatisfac- 
tory machine. 

The  man  who  finally  effected  a  combination  of  the  ele- 
ments of  the  modern  steam-engine,  and  produced  a  machine 
which  is  unmistakably  a  true  engine — i.  e.,  a  train  of  mech- 
anism consisting  of  several  elementary  pieces  combined  in 
a  train  capable  of  transmitting  a  force  applied  at  one  end 


THE   MODERN   TYPE.  57 

and  of  communicating  it  to  the  resistance  to  be  overcome 
at  the  other  end — was  THOMAS  NEWCOMEN,  an  "  iron-mon- 
ger "  and  blacksmith  of  Dartmouth,  England.  The  engine 
invented  by  him,  and  known  as  the  "  Atmospheric  Steam- 
Engine,"  is  the  first  of  an  entirely  new  type. 

The  old  type  of  engine — the  steam-engine  as  a  simple 
machine — had  been  given  as  great  a  degree  of  perfection, 
by  the  successive  improvements  of  Worcester,  Savery,  and 
Desaguliers,  as  it  was  probably  capable  of  attaining  by  any 
modification  of  its  details.  The  next  step  was  necessarily 
a  complete  change  of  type  ;  and  to  effect  such  a  change,  it 
was  only  necessary  to  combine  devices  already  known  and 
successfully  tried. 

But  little  is  known  of  the  personal  history  of  Newco- 
men.  His  position  in  life  was  humble,  and  the  inventor 
was  not  then  looked  upon  as  an  individual  of  even  possible 
importance  in  the  community.  He  was  considered  as  one 
of  an  eccentric  class  of  schemers,  and  of  an  order  which, 
concerning  itself  with  mechanical  matters,  held  the  lowest 
position  in  the  class. 

It  is  supposed  that  Savery's  engine  was  perfectly  well 
known  to  Newcomen,  and  that  the  latter  may  have  visited 
Savery  at  his  home  in  Modbury,  which  was  but  fifteen 
miles  from  the  residence  of  Newcomen.  It  is  thought,  by 
some  biographers  of  these  inventors,  that  Newcomen  was 
employed  by  Savery  in  making  the  more  intricate  forgings 
of  his  engine.  Harris,  in  his  "  Lexicon  Technicum,"  states 
that  drawings  of  the  engine  of  Savery  came  into  the  hands 
of  Newcomen,  who  made  a  model  of  the  machine,  set  it  up 
in  his  garden,  and  then  attempted  its  improvement  ;  but 
Switzer  says  that  Newcomen  "  was  as  early  in  his  invention 
as  Mr.  Savery  was  in  his." 

Newcomen  was  assisted  in  his  experiments  by  John  Cal- 
ley,  who,  with  him,  took  out  the  patent.  It  has  been  stated 
that  a  visit  to  Cornwall,  where  they  witnessed  the  working 
of  a  Savery  engine,  first  turned  their  attention  to  the  sub- 


58      THE  STEAM-ENGINE  AS  A   TRAIN  OF  MECHANISM. 

ject  ;  but  a  friend  of  Savery  has  stated  that  Newcomen 
was  as  early  with  his  general  plans  as  Savery. 

After  some  discussion  with  Galley,  Newcomen  entered 
into  correspondence  with  Dr.  Hooke,  proposing  a  steam- 
engine  to  consist  of  a  steam-cylinder  containing  a  piston 
similar  to  that  of  Papirfs,  and  to  drive  a  separate  pump, 
similar  to  those  generally  in  use  where  water  was  raised  by 
horse  or  wind  power.  Dr.  Hooke  advised  and  argued  strong- 
ly against  their  plan,  but,  fortunately,  the  obstinate  be- 
lief of  the  unlearned  mechanics  was  not  overpowered  by  the 
disquisitions  of  their  distinguished  correspondent,  and  New- 
comen and  Galley  attempted  an  engine  on  their  peculiar 
plan.  This  succeeded  so  well  as  to  induce  them  to  continue 
their  labors,  and,  in  1705,  to  patent,1  in  combination  with 
Savery — who  held  the  exclusive  right  to  practise  surface- 
condensation,  and  who  induced  them  to  allow  him  an  inter- 
est with  them — an  engine  combining  a  steam-cylinder  and 
piston,  surface-condensation,  a  separate  boiler,  and  separate 
pumps. 

In  the  atmospheric-engine,  as  first  designed,  the  slow 
process  of  condensation  by  the  application  of  the  condens- 
ing water  to  the  exterior  of  the  cylinder,  to  produce  the 
vacuum,  caused  the  strokes  of  the  engine  to  take  place  at 
very  long  intervals.  An  improvement  was,  however,  soon 
effected,  which  immensely  increased  the  rapidity  of  con- 
densation. A  jet  of  water  was  thrown  directly  into  the 
cylinder,  thus  effecting  for  the  Newcomen  engine  just 
what  Desaguliers  had  done  for  the  Savery  engine  previ- 
ously. As  thus  improved,  the  Newcomen  engine  is  shown 
in  Fig.  19. 

Here  b  is  the  boiler.  Steam  passes  from  it  through  the 
cock,  d,  and  up  into  the  cylinder,  a,  equilibrating  the  pressure 
of  the  atmosphere,  and  allowing  the  heavy  pump-rod,  £,  to 

1  It  has  been  denied  that  a  patent  was  issued,  but  there  is  no  doubt 
that  Savery  claimed  and  received  an  interest  in  the  new  engine. 


THE   MODERN   TYPE.  59 

fall,  and,  by  the  greater  weight  acting  through  the  beam,  i  i, 
to  raise  the  piston,  s,  to  the  position  shown.  The  rod  m  car- 
ries a  counterbalance,  if  needed.  The  cock  d  being  shut,  f 
is  then  opened,  and  a  jet  of  water  from  the  reservoir,  <7,  en- 
ters the  cylinder,  producing  a  vacuum  by  the  condensation 
of  the  steam.  The  pressure  of  the  air  above  the  piston  now 
forces  it  down,  again  raising  the  pump-rods,  and  thus  the 
engine  works  on  indefinitely. 


FIG.  19. — Ncwcomen's  Engine,  A.  D.  1T05. 


The  pipe  h  is  used  for  the  purpose  of  keeping  the  upper 
side  of  the  piston  covered  with  water,  to  prevent  air-leaks — 
a  device  of  Newcomen.  Two  gauge-cocks,  c  c,  and  a  safety- 
valve,  JVJ  are  represented  in  the  figure,  but  it  will  be  noticed 
that  the  latter  is  quite  different  from  the  now  usual  form. 
Here,  the  pressure  used  was  hardly  greater  than  that  of  the 
atmosphere,  and  the  weight  of  the  valve  itself  was  ordina- 
rily sufficient  to  keep  it  down.  The  condensing  water,  to- 
gether with  the  water  of  condensation,  flows  off  through 
the  open  pipe  p.  Newcomen's  first  engine  made  6  or  8 


60      THE   STEAM-ENGINE   AS  A   TRAIN   OF  MECHANISM. 

strokes  a  minute  ;  the  later  and  improved  engines  made  10 
or  12. 

The  steam-engine  has  now  assumed  a  form  that  some- 
what resembles  the  modern  machine. 

The  Newcomen  engine  is  seen  at  a  glance  to  have  been 
a  combination  of  earlier  ideas.  It  was  the  engine  of  Huy- 
ghens,  with  its  cylinder  and  piston  as  improved  by  Papin, 
by  the  substitution  of  steam  for  the  gases  generated  by  the 
explosion  of  gunpowder  ;  still  further  improved  by  New- 
comen  and  Galley  by  the  addition  of  the  method  of  con- 
densation used  in  the  Savery  engine.  It  was  further  modi- 
fied, with  the  object  of  applying  it  directly  to  the  working 
of  the  pumps  of  the  mines  by  the  introduction  of  the  over- 
head beam,  from  which  the  piston  was  suspended  at  one 
end  and  the  pump-rod  at  the  other. 

The  advantages  secured  by  this  combination  of  inven- 
tions were  many  and  manifest.  The  piston  not  only  gave 
economy  by  interposing  itself  between  the  impelling  and 
the  resisting  fluid,  but,  by  affording  opportunity  to  make 
the  area  of  piston  as  large  as  desired,  it  enabled  Newcomen 
to  use  any  convenient  pressure  and  any  desired  proportions 
for  any  proposed  lift.  The  removal  of  the  water  to  be 
lifted  from  the  steam-engine  proper  and  handling  it  with 
pumps,  was  an  evident  cause  of  very  great  economy  of 
steam. 

The  disposal  of  the  water  to  be  raised  in  this  way  also 
permitted  the  operations  of  condensation  of  steam,  and  the 
renewal  of  pressure  on  the  piston,  to  be  made  to  succeed 
each  other  with  rapidity,  and  enabled  the  inventor  to  choose, 
unhampered,  the  device  for  securing  promptly  the  action  of 
condensation. 

Desaguliers,  in  his  account  of  the  introduction  of  the 
engine  of  Newcomen,  says  that,  with  his  coadjutor  Galley, 
he  "made  several  experiments  in  private  about  the  year 
1710,  and  in  the  latter  end  of  the  year  1711  made  proposals 
to  drain  the  water  of  a  colliery  at  Griff,  in  Warwickshire, 


THE   MODERN   TYPE.  61 

where  the  proprietors  employed  500  horses,  at  an  expense 
of  £900  a  year  ;  but,  their  invention  not  meeting  with  the 
reception  they  expected,  in  March  following,  through  the 
acquaintance  of  Mr.  Potter,  of  Bromsgrove,  in  Worces- 
tershire, they  bargained  to  draw  water  for  Mr.  Back,  of 
Wolverhampton,  where,  after  a  great  many  laborious  at- 
tempts, they  did  make  the  engine  work  ;  but,  not  being 
either  philosophers  to  understand  the  reason,  or  mathema- 
ticians enough  to  calculate  the  powers  and  proportions  of 
the  parts,  they  very  luckily,  by  accident,  found  what  they 
sought  for." 

"  They  were  at  a  loss  about  the  pumps,  but,  being  so 
near  Birmingham,  and  having  the  assistance  of  so  many  ad- 
mirable and  ingenious  workmen,  they  came,  about  1712,  to 
the  method  of  making  the  pump-valves,  clacks,  and  buckets, 
whereas  they  had  but  an  imperfect  notion  of  them  before. 
One  thing  is  Arery  remarkable  :  as  they  were  at  first  work- 
ing, they  were  surprised  to  see  the  engine  go  several  strokes, 
and  very  quick  together,  when,  after  a  search,  they  found  a 
hole  in  the  piston,  which  let  the  cold  water  in  to  condense 
the  steam  in  the  inside  of  the  cylinder,  whereas,  before,  they 
had  always  done  it  on  the  outside.  They  used  before  to 
work  with  a  buoy  to  the  cylinder,  inclosed  in  a  pipe,  which 
buoy  rose  when  the  steam  was  strong  and  opened  the  injec- 
tion, and  made  a  stroke  ;  thereby  they  were  only  capable 
of  giving  6,  8,  or  10  strokes  in  a  minute,  till  a  boy,  named 
Humphrey  Potter,  in  1713,  who  attended  the  engine,  added 
(what  he  called  a  scoggan]  a  catch,  that  the  beam  always 
opened,  and  then  it  would  go  15  or  16  strokes  a  minute. 
But,  this  being  perplexed  with  catches  and  strings,  Mr. 
Henry  Beighton,  in  an  engine  he  had  built  at  Newcastle- 
upon-Tyne  in  1718,  took  them  all  away  but  the  beam  it- 
self, and  supplied  them  in  a  much  better  manner." 

In  illustration  of  the  application  of  the  Newcomen  en- 
gine to  the  drainage  of  mines,  Farey  describes  a  small 
machine,  of  which  the  pump  is  8  inches  in  diameter,  and 


62      THE   STEAM-ENGINE  AS  A   TRAIN   OF  MECHANISM. 

the  lift  162  feet.  The  column  of  water  to  be  raised  weighed 
3,535  pounds.  The  steam-piston  was  made  2  feet  in  diam- 
eter, giving  an  area  of  452  square  inches.  The  net  working- 
pressure  was  assumed  at  lOf  pounds  per  square  inch  ;  the 
temperature  of  the  water  of  condensation  and  of  uncon- 
densed  vapor  after  the  entrance  of  the  injection-water  being 
usually  about  150°  Fahr.  This  gave  an  excess  of  pressure 
on  the  steam-side  of  1,324  pounds,  the  total  pressure  on  the 
piston  being  4,859  pounds.  One-half  of  this  excess  is  coun- 
terweighted  by  the  pump-rods,  and  by  weight  on  that  end 
of  the  beam ;  and  the  weight,  662  pounds,  acting  on  each 
side  alternately  as  a  surplus,  produced  the  requisite  rapidity 
of  movement  of  the  machine.  This  engine  was  said  to 
make  15  strokes  per  minute,  giving  a  speed  of  piston  of  75 
feet  per  minute,  and  the  power  exerted  usefully  was  equiv- 
alent to  265,125  pounds  raised  one  foot  high  per  minute. 
As  the  horse-power  is  equivalent  to  33,000  "  foot-pounds  " 
per  minute,  the  engine  was  of  V^VW  =  8.034 — almost  ex- 
actly 8  horse-power. 

It  is  instructive  to  contrast  this  estimate  with  that  made 
for  a  Savery  engine  doing  the  same  work.  The  latter  would 
have  raised  the  water  about  26  feet  in  its  "  suction-pipe," 
and  would  then  have  forced  it,  by  the  direct  pressure  of 
steam,  the  remaining  distance  of  136  feet ;  and  the  steam- 
pressure  required  would  have  been  nearly  60  pounds  per 
square  inch.  With  this  high  temperature  and  pressure,  the 
waste  of  steam  by  condensation  in  the  forcing-vessels  would 
have  been  so  great  that  it  would  have  compelled  the  adop- 
tion of  two  engines  of  considerable  size,  each  lifting  the 
water  one-half  the  height,  and  using  steam  of  about  25 
pounds  pressure.  Potter's  rude  valve-gear  was  soon  im- 
proved by  Henry  Beighton,  in  an  engine  which  that  talented 
engineer  erected  at  Newcastle-upon-Tyne  in  1718,  and  in 
which  he  substituted  substantial  materials  for  the  cords,  as 
in  Fig.  20. 

In  this  sketch,  r  is  a  plug-tree,  plug-rod,  or  plug-frame, 


THE   MODERN   T1TE.  63 

as  it  is  variously  called,  suspended  from  the  great  beam, 
with  which  it  rises  and  falls,  bringing  the  pins  p  and  k,  at 
the  proper  moment,  in  contact  with  the  handles  k  Jc  and  n  n 
of  the  valves,  moving  them  in  the  proper  direction  and  to 
the  proper  extent.  A  lever  safety-valve  is  here  used,  at 


FIG.  20.— Beighton's  Valve-Gear,  A.  D.  1718. 

the  suggestion,  it  is  said,  of  Desaguliers.  The  piston  was 
packed  with  leather  or  with  rope,  and  lubricated  with  tal- 
low. 

After  the  death  of  Beighton,  the  atmospheric  engine  of 
Newcomen  retained  its  then  standard  form  for  many  years, 
and  came  into  extensive  use  in  all  the  mining  districts,  par- 
ticularly in  Cornwall,  and  was  also  applied  occasionally  to 
the  drainage  of  wet  lands,  to  the  supply  of  water  to  towns, 
and  it  was  even  proposed  by  Hulls  to  be  used  for  ship-pro- 
pulsion. 


G4      THE   STEAM-ENGINE   AS  A   TRAIN   OF   MECHANISM. 

The  proportions  of  the  engines  had  been  determined  in  a 
hap-hazard  way,  and  they  were  in  many  cases  very  unsafe. 
John  Smeaton,  the  most  distinguished  engineer  of  his  time, 
finally,  in  1769,  experimentally  determined  proper  propor- 
tions, and  built  several  of  these  engines  of  very  consider- 
able size.  He  built  his  engines  with  steam-cylinders  of 
greater  length  of  stroke  than  had  been  customary,  and  gave 
them  such  dimensions  as,  by  giving  a  greater  excess  of 
pressure  on  the  steam-side,  enabled  him  to  obtain  a  greatly- 
increased  speed  of  piston.  The  first  of  his  new  style  of  en- 
gine was  erected  at  Long  Benton,  near  Newcastle-upon- 
Tyne,  in  1774. 

Fig.  21 l  illustrates  its  principal  characteristic  features. 
The  boiler  is  not  shown. 

The  steam  is  led  to  the  engine  through  the  pipe,  C,  and 
is  regulated  by  turning  the  cock  in  the  receiver,  D,  which 
connects  with  the  steam-cylinder  by  the  pipe,  E,  which 
latter  pipe  rises  a  little  way  above  the  bottom  of  the  cylin- 
der, F,  in  order  that  it  may  not  drain  off  the  injection-water 
into  the  steam-pipe  and  receiver. 

The  steam-cylinder,  about  ten  feet  in  length,  is  fitted 
with  a  carefully-made  piston,  G,  having  a  flanch  rising  four 
or  five  inches  and  extending  completely  around  its  circum- 
ference, and  nearly  in  contact  with  the  interior  surface  of 
the  cylinder.  Between  this  flanch  and  the  cylinder  is  driven 
a  "  packing  "  of  oakum,  which  is  held  in  place  by  weights  ; 
this  prevents  the  leakage  of  air,  water,  or  steam,  past  the 
piston,  as  it  rises  and  falls  in  the  cylinder  at  each  stroke  of 
the  engine.  The  chain  and  piston-rod  connect  the  piston 
to  the  beam,  II.  The  arch-heads  at  each  end  of  the  beam 
keep  the  chains  of  the  piston-rod  and  the  pump-rods  perpen- 
dicular and  in  line. 

A  "  jack -head  "  pump,  JV,  is  driven  by  a  small  beam  de- 
riving its  motion  from  the  plug-rod  at  g,  raises  the  water 

1  A  fac-simile  of  a  sketch  in  Galloway's  "  On  the  Steam-Enginc,"  etc. 


THE   MODEPxN   TYPE.  65 

required  for  condensing  the  steam,  and  keeps  the  cistern,  O, 
supplied.  This  "  jack-head  cistern  "  is  sufficiently  elevated 
to  give  the  water  entering  the  cylinder  the  velocity  requisite 


ton's  Newcomen  Engine. 


to  secure  prompt  condensation.  A  waste-pipe  carries  away 
any  surplus  water.  The  injection-water  is  led  from  the  cis- 
tern by  the  pipe,  PP,  which  is  two  or  three  inches  in  diam- 


66      THE   STEAM-ENGINE  AS  A  TRAIN   OF  MECHANISM. 

eter,  and  the  flow  of  water  is  regulated  by  the  injection- 
cock,  r.  The  cap  at  the  end,  d,  is  pierced  with  several  holes, 
and  the  stream  thus  divided  rises  in  jets  when  admitted, 
and,  striking  the  lower  side  of  the  piston,  the  spray  thus 
produced  very  rapidly  condenses  the  steam,  and  produces  a 
vacuum  beneath  the  piston.  The  valve,  e,  on  the  upper  end 
of  the  injection-pipe,  is  a  check-valve,  to  prevent  leakage 
into  the  engine  when  the  latter  is  not  in  operation.  The 
little  pipe,  /,  supplies  water  to  the  upper  side  of  the  piston, 
and,  keeping  it  flooded,  prevents  the  entrance  of  air  when 
the  packing  is  not  perfectly  tight. 

The  "  working-plug,"  or  plug-rod,  Q,  is  a  piece  of  tim- 
ber slit  vertically,  and  carrying  pins  which  engage  the 
handles  of  the  valves,  opening  and  closing  them  at  the 
proper  times.  The  steam-cock,  or  regulator,  has  a  handle, 
A,  by  which  it  is  moved.  The  iron  rod,  i  i,  or  spanner,  gives 
motion  to  the  handle,  h. 

The  vibrating  lever,  k  7,  called  the  Y",  or  the  "  tumbling- 
bob,"  moves  on  the  pins,  m  n,  and  is  worked  by  the  levers, 
o  p,  which  in  turn  are  moved  by  the  plug-tree.  When  o 
is  depressed,  the  loaded  end,  k,  is  given  the  position  seen  in 
the  sketch,  and  the  leg  I  of  the  Y  strikes  the  spanner,  i  i, 
and,  opening  the  steam-valve,  the  piston  at  once  rises  as 
steam  enters  the  cylinder,  until  another  pin  on  the  plug-rod 
raises  the  piece,  P,  and  closes  the  regulator  again.  The 
lever,  q  r,  connects  with  the  injection-cock,  and  is  moved, 
when,  as  the  piston  rises,  the  end,  q,  is  struck  by  a  pin  on 
the  plug-rod,  and  the  cock  is  opened  and  a  vacuum  pro- 
duced. The  cock  is  closed  on  the  descent  of  the  plug-tree 
with  the  piston.  An  eduction-pipe,  JR,  fitted  with  a  clock, 
conveys  away  the  water  in  the  cylinder  at  the  end  of  each 
down-stroke  ;  the  water  thus  removed  is  collected  in  the 
hot-well,  S,  and  is  used  as  feed- water  for  the  boiler,  to  which 
it  is  conveyed  by  the  pipe  T.  At  each  down-stroke,  while 
the  water  passes  out  through  M,  the  air  which  may  have 
collected  in  the  cylinder  is  driven  out  through  the  "  snift- 


THE   MODERN   TYPE. 


67 


Ing-valve,"  s.  The  steam-cylinder  is  supported  on  strong 
beams,  1  1  ;  it  has  around  its  upper  edge  a  guard,  v,  of  lead, 
which  prevents  the  overflow  of  the  water  on  the  top  of  the 
piston.  The  excess  of  this  water  flows  away  to  the  hot- 
well  through  the  pipe  W. 

Catch-pins,  x,  are  provided,  to  prevent  the  beam  descend- 
ing too  far  should  the  engine  make  too  long  a  stroke  ;  two 
wooden  springs,  yy,  receive  the  blow.  The  great  beam  is 
carried  on  sectors,  zz,  to  diminish  losses  by  friction. 

The  boilers  of  Newcomen's  earlier  engines  were  made  of 
copper  where  in  contact  with  the  products  of  combustion, 
and  their  upper  parts  were  of  lead.  Subsequently-  sheet- 
iron  was  substituted.  The  steam-space  in  the  boiler  was 
made  of  8  or  10  times  the  capacity  of  the  cylinder  of  the 
engine.  Even  in  Smeaton's  time,  a  chimney-damper  was 
not  used,  and  the  supply  of  steam  was  consequently  very 
variable.  In  the  earlier  engines,  the 
cylinder  was  placed  on  the  boiler  ; 
afterward,  they  were  placed  sepa- 
rately, and  supported  on  a  founda- 
tion of  masonry.  The  injection  or 
"  jack-head  "  cistern  was  placed  from 
12  to  30  feet  above  the  engine,  the 
velocity  due  the  greater  altitude 
being  found  to  give  the  most  perfect 
distribution  of  the  water  and  the 
promptest  condensation. 

Smeaton  covered  the  lower  side 
of  his  steam-pistons  with  wooden 
plank  about  2±  inches  thick,  in  order 
that  it  should  absorb  and  waste  less 
heat  than  when  the  iron  was  directly 

exposed  to  the  steam.  Mr.  Beighton  was  the  first  to  use  the 
water  of  condensation  for  feeding  the  boiler,  taking  it  di- 
rectly from  the  eduction-pipe,  or  the  "hot-well."  Where 
only  a  sufficient  amount  of  pure  water  could  be  obtained  for- 


Fie.  22  ew 

Engine,  lies. 


68       THE  STEAM-ENGINE   AS  A  TRAIN   OF  MECHANISM. 

feeding  the  boiler,  and  the  injection-water  was  "  hard,"  Mr. 
Smeaton  applied  a  heater,  immersed  in  the  hot-well,  through 
which  the  feed  passed,  absorbing  heat  from  the  water  of 
condensation  en  route  to  the  boiler.  Farey  first  proposed 
the  use  of  the  "  coil-heater  " — a  pipe,  or  "  worm,"  which, 
forming  a  part  of  the  feed-pipe,  was  set  in  the  hot-well. 
As  early  as  1743,  the  metal  used  for  the  cylinders  was  cast- 
iron.  The  earlier  engines  had  been  fitted  with  brass  cylin- 
ders. Desaguliers  recommended  the  iron  cylinders,  as  being 
smoother,  thinner,  and  as  having  less  capacity  for  heat  than 
those  of  brass. 

In  a  very  few  years  after  the  invention  of  Newcomen's 
engine  it  had  been  introduced  into  nearly  all  large  mines  in 
Great  Britain  ;  and  many  new  mines,  which  could  not  have 
been  worked  at  all  previously,  were  opened,  when  it  was 
found  that  the  new  machine  could  be  relied  upon  to  raise 
the  large  quantities  of  water  to  be  handled.  The  first  en- 
gine in  Scotland  was  erected  in  1720  at  Elphinstone,  in 
Stirlingshire.  One  was  put  up  in  Hungary  in  1723. 

The  first  mine-engine,  erected  in  1712  at  Griff,  was  22 
inches  in  diameter,  and  the  second  and  third  engines  were 
of  similar  size.  That  erected  at  Ansthorpe  was  23  inches 
in  diameter  of  cylinder,  and  it  was  a  long  time  before  much 
larger  engines  were  constructed.  Smeaton  and  others 
finally  made  them  as  large  as  6  feet  in  diameter. 

In  calculating  the  lifting-power  of  his  engines,  New- 
comen's  method  was  "  to  square  the  diameter  of  the  cylin- 
der in  inches,  and,  cutting  off  the  last  figure,  he  called  it 
'  long  hundredweights  ; '  then  writing  a  cipher  on  the  right 
hand,  he  called  the  number  on  that  side  '  odd  pounds  ; '  this 
he  reckoned  tolerably  exact  at  a  mean,  or  rather  when  the 
barometer  was  above  30  inches,  and  the  air  heavy."  In 
allowing  for  frictional  and  other  losses,  he  deducted  from 
one-fourth  to  one-third.  Desaguliers  found  the  rule  quite 
exact.  The  usual  mean  pressure  resisting  the  motion  of 
.the  piston  averaged,  in  the  best  engines,  about  8  pounds  per 


THE   MODERN   TiTE.  69 

square  inch  of  its  area.  The  speed  of  the  piston  was  from 
150  to  175  feet  per  minute.  The  temperature  of  the  hot- 
well  was  from  145°  to  175°  Fahr. 

Smeaton  made  a  number  of  test-trials  of  Newcomen 
engines  to  determine  their  "  duty  " — i.  e.,  to  ascertain  the 
expenditure  of  fuel  required  to  raise  a  definite  quantity  of 
water  to  a  stated  height.  He  found  an  engine  10  inches  in 
diameter  of  cylinder,  and  of  3  feet  stroke,  could  do  work 
equal  to  raising  2,919,017  pounds  of  water  one  foot  high, 
with  a  bushel  of  coals  weighing  84  pounds. 

One  of  Smeaton's  larger  engines,  erected  at  Long  Ben- 
ton,  was  52  inches  in  diameter  of  cylinder  and  of  7  feet 
stroke  of  piston,  and  made  12  strokes  per  minute.  Its  load 
was  equal  to  7^  pounds  per  square  inch  of  piston-area,  and 
its  effective  capacity  about  40  horse-power.  Its  duty  was 
9^  millions  of  pounds  raised  one  foot  high  per  bushel  of 
coals.  Its  boiler  evaporated  7.88  pounds  of  water  per 
pound  of  fuel  consumed.  It  had  35  square  feet  of  grate- 
surface  and  142  square  feet  of  heating-surface  beneath  the 
boilers,  and  317  square  feet  in  the  flues — a  total  of  459 
square  feet.  The  moving  parts  of  this  engine  weighed 
84-  tons. 

Smeaton  erected  one  of  these  engines  at  the  Chasewater 
mine,  in  Cornwall,  in  1775,  which  was  of  very  considerable 
size.  It  was  6  feet  in  diameter  of  steam-cylinder,  and  had 
a  maximum  stroke  of  piston  of  9£  feet.  It  usually  worked 
9  feet.  The  pumps  were  in  three  lifts  of  about  100  feet 
each,  and  were  16f  inches  in  diameter.  Nine  strokes  were 
made  per  minute.  This  engine  replaced  two  others,  of  64 
and  of  62  inches  diameter  of  cylinder  respectively,  and  both 
of  6  feet  stroke.  One  engine  at  the  lower  lift  supplied  the 
second,  which  was  set  above  it.  The  lower  one  had  pumps 
18^  inches  in  diameter,  and  raised  the  water  144  feet ;  the 
upper  engine  raised  the  water  156  feet,  by  pumps  17£  inches 
in  diameter.  The  later  engine  replacing  them  exerted  76£ 
horse-power.  There  were  three  boilers,  each  15  feet  in 


70      THE   STEAM-ENGINE   AS  A  TRAIN  OF  MECHANISM. 

diameter,  and  having  each  23  square  feet  of  grate-surface. 
The  chimney  was  22  feet  high.  The  great  beam,  or  "  lever," 
of  this  engine  was  built  up  of  20  beams  of  fir  in  two  sets, 
placed  side  by  side,  and  ten  deep,  strongly  bolted  together. 
It  was  over  6  feet  deep  at  the  middle  and  5  feet  at  the 
ends,  and  was  2  feet  thick.  The  "  main  centres,"  or  jour- 
nals, on  which  it  vibrated  were  8£  inches  in  diameter  and 
8£  inches  long.  The  cylinder  weighed  6J  tons,  and  was 
paid  for  at  the  rate  of  28  shillings  per  hundredweight. 

By  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century,  therefore,  the  en- 
gine of  Newcomen,  perfected  by  the  ingenuity  of  Potter 
and  of  Beighton,  and  by  the  systematic  study  and  experi- 
mental research  of  Smeaton,  had  become  a  well-established 
form  of  steam-engine,  and  its  application  to  raising  water 
had  become  general.  The  coal-mines  of  Coventry  and  of 
Newcastle  had  adopted  this  method  of  drainage  ;  and  the  tin 
and  the  copper  mines  of  Cornwall  had  been  deepened,  using, 
for  drainage,  engines  of  the  largest  size. 

Some  engines  had  been  set  up  in  and  about  London,  the 
scene  of  Worcester's  struggles  and  disappointments,  where 
they  were  used  to  supply  water  to  large  houses.  Others 
were  in  use  in  other  large  cities  of  England,  where  water- 
works had  been  erected. 

Some  engines  had  also  been  erected  to  drive  mills  indi- 
rectly by  raising  water  to  turn  water-wheels.  This  is  said 
by  Farey  to  have  been  first  practised  in  1752,  at  a  mill  near 
Bristol,  and  became  common  during  the  next  quarter  of  a 
century.  Many  engines  had  been  built  in  England  and 
sent  across  the  channel,  to  be  applied  to  the  drainage  of 
mines  on  the  Continent.  Belidor l  stated  that  the  manufac- 
ture of  these  "  fire-engines  "  was  exclusively  confined  to 
England  ;  and  this  remained  true  many  years  after  his  time. 
When  used  for  the  drainage  of  mines,  the  engine  usually 
worked  the  ordinary  lift  or  bucket  pump  ;  when  employed 

1  "Architecture  Hydraulique,"  1734. 


THE   MODERN   TYPE.  71 

for  water-supply  to  cities,  the  force  or  plunger  pump  was 
often  employed,  the  engine  being  placed  below  the  level  of 
the  reservoir.  Dr.  Rees  states  that  this  engine  was  in  com- 
mon use  among  the  collieries  of  England  as  early  as  1725. 

The  Edmonstone  colliery  was  licensed,  in  1725,  to  erect 
an  engine,  not  to  exceed  28  inches  diameter  of  cylinder  and 
9  feet  stroke  of  piston,  paying  a  royalty  of  £80  per  annum 
for  eight  years.  This  engine  was  built  in  Scotland,  by 
workmen  sent  from  England,  and  cost  about  £1,200.  Its 
"  great  cost "  is  attributed  to  an  extensive  use  of  brass. 
The  workmen  were  paid  their  expenses  and  15s.  per  week 
as  wages.  The  builders  were  John  and  Abraham  Potter, 
of  Durham.  An  engine  built  in  1775,  having  a  steam-cyl- 
inder 48  inches  in  diameter  and  of  7  feet  stroke,  cost  about 
£2,000. 

Smeaton  found  57  engines  at  work  near  Newcastle  in 
1767,  ranging  in  size  from  28  to  75  inches  in  diameter  of 
cylinder,  and  of,  collectively,  about  1,200  horse-power.  Fif- 
teen of  these  engines  gave  an  average  of  98  square  inches 
of  piston  to  the  horse-power,  and  the  average  duty  was 
5,590,000  pounds  raised  1  foot  high  by  1  bushel  (84  pounds) 
of  coal.  The  highest  duty  noted  was  7.44  millions  ;  the 
lowest  was  3.22  millions.  The  most  efficient  engine  had  a 
steam-cylinder  42  inches  in  diameter  ;  the  load  was  equiva- 
lent to  9£  pounds  per  square  inch  of  piston-area,  and  the 
horse-power  developed  was  calculated  to  be  16.7. 

Price,  writing  in  1778,  says,  in  the  Appendix  to  his 
"  Mineralogia  Cornubiensis  :  "  "  Mr.  Newcomen's  invention 
of  the  fire-engine  enabled  us  to  sink  our  mines  to  twice  the 
depth  we  could  formerly  do  by  any  other  machinery.  Since 
this  invention  was  completed,  most  other  attempts  at  its 
improvement  have  been  very  unsuccessful ;  but  the  vast 
consumption  of  fuel  in  these  engines  is  an  immense  draw- 
back on  the  profit  of  our  mines,  for  every  fire-engine  of 
magnitude  consumes  £3,000  worth  of  coals  per  annum. 
This  heavy  tax  amounts  almost  to  a  prohibition." 
5 


72      THE   STEAM-ENGINE   AS  A   TRAIN    OF   MECHANISM. 

Smeaton  was  given  the  description,  in  1773,  of  a  stone 
boiler,  which  was  used  with  one  of  these  engines  at  a  copper 
mine  at  Camborne,  in  Cornwall.  It  contained  three  copper 
flues  22  inches  in  diameter.  The  gases  were  passed  through 
these  flues  successively,  finally  passing  off  to  the  chimney. 
This  boiler  was  cemented  with  hydraulic  mortar.  It  was 
20  feet  long,  9  feet  wide,  and  8|  feet  deep.  It  was  heated 
by  the  waste  heat  from  the  roasting-furnaces.  This  was 
one  of  the  earliest  flue-boilers  ever  made. 

In  1780,  Smeaton  had  a  list  of  18  large  engines  work- 
ing in  Cornwall.  The  larger  number  of  them  were  built 
by  Jonathan  Hornblower  and  John  Nancarron.  At  this 
time,  the  largest  and  best-known  pumping-engine  for  water- 
works was  at  York  Buildings,  in  Villiers  Street,  Strand, 
London.  It  had  been  in  operation  since  1752,  and  was 
erected  beside  one  of  Savery's  engines,  built  in  1710.  It 
had  a  steam-cylinder  45  inches  in  diameter,  and  a  stroke 
of  piston  of  8  feet,  making  7£  strokes  per  minute,  and  de- 
veloping 35£  horse-power.  Its  boiler  was  dome-shaped, 
of  copper,  and  contained  a  large  central  fire-box  and  a 
spiral  flue  leading  outward  to  the  chimney.  Another 
somewhat  larger  machine  was  built  and  placed  beside  this 
engine,  some  time  previous  to  1775.  Its  cylinder  was  49 
inches  in  diameter,  and  its  stroke  9  feet.  It  raised  water 
102  feet.  This  engine  was  altered  and  improved  by  Smea- 
ton in  1777,  and  continued  in  use  until  1813. 

Smeaton,  as  early  as  1765,  designed  a  portable  engine,1 
in  which  he  supported  the  machinery  on  a  wrooden  frame 
mounted  on  short  legs  and  strongly  put  together,  so  that 
the  whole  machine  could  be  transported  and  set  at  work 
wherever  convenient. 

In  place  of  the  beam,  a  large  pulley  was  used,  over 
which  a  chain  was  carried,  connecting  the  piston  with  the 
pump-rod,  and  the  motion  was  similar  to  that  given  by  the 

1  Smcaton's  "  Reports,"  vol.  i.,  p.  223. 


THE   MODERN   TYPE.  73 

discarded  beam.  The  wheel  was  supported  on  A-frames, 
resembling  somewhat  the  "  gallows-frames  "  still  used  with 
the  beam-engines  of  American  river-boats.  The  sills  carry- 
ing the  two  A's  supported  the  cylinder.  The  injection-cis- 
tern was  supported  above  the  great  pulley-wheel.  The 
valve-gearing  and  the  injection-pump  were  worked,  by  a 
smaller  wheel,  mounted  on  the  same  axis  with  the  larger 
one.  The  boiler  was  placed  apart  from  the  engine,  with 
which  it  was  connected  by  a  steam-pipe,  in  which  was 


FIG.  23.— Smeaton's  Portable-Engine  Boiler,  1765. 

placed  the  "  regulator,"  or  throttle-valve.  The  boiler  (Fig. 
23)  "was  shaped  like  a  large  tea-kettle,"  and  contained  a 
fire-box,  B,  or  internal  furnace,  of  which  the  sides  were 
made  of  cast-iron.  The  fire-door,  (7,  was  placed  on  one 
side  and  opposite  the  flue,  J9,  through  which  the  products  of 
combustion  were  led  to  the  chimney,  E ;  a  short,  large  pipe, 
F,  leading  downward  from  the  furnace  to  the  outside  of  the 
boiler,  was  the  ash-pit.  The  shell  of  the  boiler,  A,  was  made 
of  iron  plate  one-quarter  of  an  inch  thick.  The  steam-cylin- 


74      THE   STEAM-ENGINE   AS  A   TRAIN   OF   MECHANISM. 

der  of  the  engine  was  18  inches  in  diameter,  the  stroke  of 
piston  6  feet,  the  great  wheel  6£  feet  in  diameter,  and  the 
A-frames  9  feet  high.  The  boiler  was  made  6  feet,  the  fur- 
nace 34  inches,  and  the  grate  18  inches  in  diameter.  The 
piston  was  intended  to  make  10  strokes  per  minute,  and  the 
engine  to  develop  4£  horse-power. 

In  1773,  Smeaton  prepared  plans  for  a  pumping-engine 
to  be  set  up  at  Cronstadt,  the  port  of  St.  Petersburg,  to 
empty  the  great  dry  dock  constructed  by  Peter  the  Great 
and  Catherine,  his  successor.  This  great  dock  was  begun 
in  1719.  It  was  large  enough  to  dock  ten  of  the  ships  of 
that  time,  and  had  previously  been  imperfectly  drained  by 
two  great  windmills  100  feet  high.  So  imperfectly  did  they 
do  their  work,  that  a  year  was  required  to  empty  the  dock, 
and  it  could  therefore  only  be  used  once  in  each  summer. 
The  engine  was  built  at  the  Carron  Iron  Works,  in  Eng- 
land. It  had  a  cylinder  66  inches  in  diameter,  and  a  stroke 
of  piston  of  8£  feet.  The  lift  varied  from  33  feet  when 
the  dock  was  full  to  53  feet  when  it  was  cleared  of  water. 
The  load  on  the  engine  averaged  about  8£  pounds  per 
square  inch  of  piston-area.  There  were  three  boilers,  each 
10  feet  in  diameter,  and  16  feet  4  inches  high  to  the  apex  of 
its  hemispherical  dome.  They  contained  internal  fire-boxes 
with  grates  of  20  feet  area,  and  were  surrounded  by  flues 
helically  traversing  the  masonry  setting.  The  engine  was 
started  in  1777,  and  worked  very  successfully. 

The  lowlands  of  Holland  were,  before  the  time  of  Smea- 
ton, drained  by  means  of  windmills.  The  uncertainty  and 
inefficiency  of  this  method  precluded  its  application  to  any- 
thing like  the  extent  to  which  steam-power  has  since  been 
utilized.  In  1440,  there  were  150  inland  lakes,  or  "meers," 
in  that  country,  of  which  nearly  100,  having  an  extent  of 
over  200,000  acres,  have  since  been  drained.  The  "  Haar- 
lemmer  Meer  "  alone  covers  nearly  50,000  acres,  and  forms 
the  basin  of  a  drainage-area  of  between  200,000  and  300,- 
000  acres,  receiving  a  rainfall  of  54,000,000  tons,  which 


THE   MODERN  TYPE.  75 

must  be  raised  16  feet  in  discharging  it.  The  beds  of  these 
lakes  are  from  10  to  20  feet  lower  than  the  water-level  in 
the  adjacent  canals.  In  1840,  12,000  windmills  were  still 
employed  in  this  work.  In  the  following  year,  William  II., 
at  the  suggestion  of  a  commission,  decreed  that  only  steam- 
engines  should  be  employed  to  do  this  immense  work.  Up 
to  this  time  the  average  consumption  of  fuel  for  the  pump- 
ing-engines  in  use  is  said  to  have  been  20  pounds  per  hour 
per  horse-power. 

The  first  engine  used  was  erected  in  1777  and  1778,  on 
the  Newcomen  plan,  to  assist  the  34  windmills  employed  to 
drain  a  lake  near  Rotterdam.  This  lake  covered  7,000 
acres,  and  its  bed  was  12  feet  below  the  surface  of  the 
river  Meuse,  which  passes  it,  and  empties  into  the  sea  in  the 
immediate  neighborhood.  The  iron  parts  of  the  engine 
were  built  in  England,  and  the  machine  was  put  together  in 
Holland.  The  steam-cylinder  was  52  inches  in  diameter, 
and  the  stroke  of  piston  9  feet.  The  boiler  was  18  feet  in 
diameter,  and  contained  a  double  flue.  The  main  beam  was 
27  feet  long.  The  pumps  were  6  in  number,  3  cylindrical 
and  3  having  a  square  cross-section  ;  3  were  of  6  feet  and 
3  of  2£  feet  stroke.  Two  pumps  only  were  worked  at  high- 
tide,  and  the  others  were  added  one  at  a  time,  as  the  tide 
fell,  until,  at  low-tide,  all  6  were  at  work. 

The  size  of  this  engine,  and  the  magnitude  of  its 
work,  seem  insignificant  when  compared  with  the  machinery 
installed  60  years  later  to  drain  the  Haarlemmer  Meer,  and 
with  the  work  done  by  the  last.  These  engines  are  12  feet 
in  diameter  of  cylinder  and  10  feet  stroke  of  piston,  and 
work — they  are  3  in  number — the  one  11  pumps  of  63  in- 
ches diameter  and  10  feet  stroke,  the  others  8  pumps  of 
73  inches  diameter  and  of  the  same  length  of  stroke.  The 
modern  engines  do  a  "  duty "  of  75,000,000  to  87,000,000 
with  94  pounds  of  coal,  consuming  2^  pounds  of  coal  per 
hour  and  per  horse-power. 

The  first  steam-engine  applied  to  working  the  blowing- 


76      THE   STEAM-ENGINE   AS   A   TRAIN   OF   MECHANISM. 

machinery  of  a  blast-furnace  was  erected  at  the  Carron 
Iron- Works,  in  Scotland,  near  Falkirk,  in  1765,  and  proved 
very  unsatisfactory.  Smeaton  subsequently,  in  1769  or 
1770,  introduced  better  machinery  into  these  works  and 
improved  the  old  engine,  and  this  use  of  the  steam-engine 
soon  became  usual.  This  engine  did  its  work  indirectly, 
furnishing  water,  by  pumping,  to  drive  the  water-wheels 
which  worked  the  blowing-cylinders.  Its  steam-cylinder 
was  6  feet  in  diameter,  and  the  pump-cylinder  52  inches. 
The  stroke  was  9  feet. 

A  direct-acting  engine,  used  as  a  blowing-engine,  was  not 
constructed  until  about  1784,  at  which  time  a  single-acting 
blowing  -  cylinder,  or  air-pump,  was  placed  at  the  "out- 
board" end  of  the  beam,  where  the  pump-rod  had  been 
attached.  The  piston  of  the  air-cylinder  was  loaded  with 
the  weights  needed  to  force  it  down,  expelling  the  air,  and 
the  engine  did  its  work  in  raising  the  loaded  piston,  the  air- 
cylinder  filling  as  the  piston  rose.  A  large  "  accumulator  " 
was  used  to  equalize  the  pressure  of  the  expelled  air.  This 
consisted  of  another  air-cylinder,  having  a  loaded  piston 
which  was  left  free  to  rise  and  fall.  At  each  expulsion  of 
air  by  the  blowing-engine  this  cylinder  was  filled,  the  loaded 
piston  rising  to  the  top.  While  the  piston  of  the  former 
was  returning,  and  the  air-cylinder  was  taking  in  its  charge 
of  air,  the  accumulator  would  gradually  discharge  the 
stored  air,  the  piston  slowly  falling  under  its  load.  This 
piston  was  called  the  "  floating  piston,"  or  "  fly-piston,"  and 
its  action  was,  in  effect,  precisely  that  of  the  upper  portion 
of  the  common  blacksmith's  bellows. 

Dr.  Robison,  the  author  of  "Mechanical  Philosophy," 
one  of  the  very  few  works  even  now  existing  deserving  such 
a  title,  describes  one  of  these  engines l  as  working  in  Scot- 
land in  1790.  It  had  a  steam-cylinder  40  or  44  inches  in 
diameter,  a  blowing-cylinder  60  inches  in  diameter,  and  the 

1  "Encyclopaedia  Britannica,"  1st  edition. 


THE   MODERN   TYPE.  77 

stroke  of  piston  was  6  feet.  The  air-pressure  was  2.77 
pounds  per  square  inch  as  a  maximum  in  the  blowing-cylin- 
der ;  and  the  floating  piston  in  the  regulating-cylinder  was 
loaded  with  2.63  pounds  per  square  inch.  Making  15  or 
18  strokes  per  minute,  this  engine  delivered  about  1,600 
cubic  feet  of  air,  or  120£  pounds  in  weight,  per  minute, 
and  developed  20  horse-power. 

At  about  the  same  date  a  change  was  made  in  the  blow- 
ing-cylinder. The  air  entered  at  the  bottom,  as  before,  but 
was  forced  out  at  the  top,  the  piston  being  fitted  with 
valves,  as  in  the  common  lifting-pump,  and  the  engine  thus 
being  arranged  to  do  the  work  of  expulsion  during  the 
down-stroke  of  the  steam-piston. 

Four  years  later,  the  regulating-cylinder,  or  accumula- 
tor, was  given  up,  and  the  now  familiar  "  water-regulator  " 
was  substituted  for  it.  This  consists  of  a  tank,  usually  of 
sheet-iron,  set  open-end  downward  in  a  large  vessel  con- 
taining water.  The  lower  edge  of  the  inner  tank  is  sup- 
ported on  piers  a  few  inches  above  the  bottom  of  the  large 
one.  The  pipe  carrying  air  from  the  blowing-engine  passes 
above  this  water-regulator,  and  a  branch-pipe  is  led  down 
into  the  inner  tank.  As  the  air-pressure  varies,  the  level  of 
the  water  within  the  inverted  tank  changes,  rising  as  press- 
ure falls  at  the  slowing  of  the  motion  of  the  piston,  and 
falling  as  the  pressure  rises  again  while  the  piston  is  moving 
with  an  accelerated  velocity.  The  regulator,  thus  receiving 
surplus  air  to  be  delivered  when  needed,  greatly  assists  in 
regulating  the  pressure.  The  larger  the  regulator,  the  more 
perfectly  uniform  the  pressure.  The  water-level  outside 
the  inner  tank  is  usually  five  or  six  feet  higher  than  within 
it.  This  apparatus  was  found  much  more  satisfactory  than 
the  previously-used  regulator,  and,  with  its  introduction,  the 
establishment  of  the  steam-engine  as  a  blowing-engine  for 
iron-works  and  at  blast-furnaces  may  be  considered  as  hav- 
ing been  fully  established. 

Thus,  by  the  end  of  the  third  quarter  of  the  eighteenth 


78      THE   STEAM-ENGINE   AS  A  TRAIN   OF  MECHANISM. 

century,  the  steam-engine  had  become  generally  introduced, 
and  had  been  applied  to  nearly  all  of  the  purposes  for  which 
a  single-acting  engine  could  be  used.  The  path  which  had 
been  opened  by  Worcester  had  been  fairly  laid  out  by  Savery 
and  his  contemporaries,  and  the  builders  of  the  Newcomen 
engine,  with  such  improvements  as  they  had  been  able  to  ef- 
fect, had  followed  it  as  far  as  they  were  able.  The  real  and 
practical  introduction  of  the  steam-engine  is  as  fairly  at- 
tributable to  Smeaton  as  to  any  one  of  the  inventors  whose 
names  are  more  generally  known  in  connection  with  it.  As 
a  mechanic,  he  was  unrivaled  ;  as  an  engineer,  he  was  head 
and  shoulders  above  any  constructor  of  his  time  engaged  in 
general  practice.  There  were  very  few  important  public 
works  built  in  Great  Britain  at  that  time  in  relation  to 
which  he  was  not  consulted  ;  and  he  was  often  visited  by 
foreign  engineers,  who  desired  his  advice  with  regard  to 
works  in  progress  on  the  Continent. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 
JAMES  WATT  AND  HIS  CONTEMPORARIES. 

THE  world  is  now  entering  upon  the  Mechanical  Epoch.  There  is  noth- 
ing in  the  future  more  sure  than  the  great  triumphs  which  that  epoch  is  to 
achieve.  It  has  already  advanced  to  some  glorious  conquests.  What  mira- 
cles of  invention  now  crowd  upon  us  !  Look  abroad,  and  contemplate  the 
infinite  achievements  of  the  steam-power. 

And  yet  we  have  only  begun — we  are  but  on  the  threshold  of  this 
epoch.  .  .  .  What  is  it  but  the  setting  of  the  great  distinctive  seal  upon  the 
nineteenth  century  ? — an  advertisement  of  the  fact  that  society  has  risen  to 
occupy  a  higher  platform  than  ever  before  ? — a  proclamation  from  the  high 
places,  announcing  honor,  honor  immortal,  to  the  workmen  who  fill  this 
world  with  beauty,  comfort,  and  power — honor  to  be  forever  embalmed  in 
history,  to  be  perpetuated  in  monuments,  to  be  written  in  the  hearts  of  this 
and  succeeding  generations ! — KENNEDY. 

SECTION  I. — JAMES  WATT  AND  HIS  INVENTIONS. 

THE  success  of  the  Newcomen  engine  naturally  attracted 
the  attention  of  mechanics,  and  of  scientific  men  as  well,  to 
the  possibility  of  making  other  applications  of  steam-power. 

The  best  men  of  the  time  gave  much  attention  to  the 
subject,  but,  until  James  Watt  began  the  work  that  has 
made  him  famous,  nothing  more  was  done  than  to  improve 
the  proportions  and  slightly  alter  the  details  of  the  Newco- 
men and  Galley  engine,  even  by  such  skillful  engineers  as 
Brindley  and  Smeaton.  Of  the  personal  history  of  the 
earlier  inventors  and  improvers  of  the  steam-engine,  very 
little  is  ascertained ;  but  that  of  Watt  has  become  well 
known. 


80    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 

JAMES  WATT  was  of  an  humble  lineage,  and  was  born 
at  Greenock,  then  a  little  Scotch  fishing  village,  but  now 
a  considerable  and  a  busy  town,  which  annually  launches 


upon  the  waters  of  the  Clyde  a  fleet  of  steamships  whose 
engines  are  probably,  in  the  aggregate,  far  more  powerful 
than  were  all  the  engines  in  the  world  at  the  date  of  Watt's 
birth,  January  19,  1736.  His  grandfather,  Thomas  Watt, 
of  Crawfordsdyke,  near  Greenock,  was  a  well-known  math- 
ematician about  the  year  1700,  and  was  for  many  years  a 
schoolmaster  at  that  place.  His  father  was  a  prominent 
citizen  of  Greenock,  and  was  at  various  times  chief  magis- 
trate and  treasurer  of  the  town.  James  Watt  was  a  bright 
boy,  but  exceedingly  delicate  in  health,  and  quite  unable  to 
attend  school  regularly,  or  to  apply  himself  closely  to  either 
study  or  play.  His  early  education  was  given  by  his  par- 
ents, who  were  respectable  and  intelligent  people,  and  the 
tools  borrowed  from  his  father's  carpenter-bench  served  at 


JAMES   WATT   AND   HIS   INVENTIONS.  81 

once  to  amuse  him  and  to  give  him  a  dexterity  and  famil- 
iarity with  their  use  that  must  undoubtedly  have  been  of 
inestimable  value  to  him  in  after-life. 

M.  Arago,  the  eminent  French  philosopher,  who  wrote 
one  of  the  earliest  and  most  interesting  biographies  of 
Watt,  relates  anecdotes  of  him  which,  if  correct,  illustrate 
well  his  thoughtfulness  and  his  intelligence,  as  well  as  the 
mechanical  bent  of  the  boy's  mind.  He  is  said,  at  the  age 
of  six  years,  to  have  occupied  himself  during  leisure  hours 
with  the  solution  of  geometrical  problems  ;  and  Arago  dis- 
covers, in  a  story  in  which  he  is  described  as  experimenting 
with  the  tea-kettle,1  his  earliest  investigations  of  the  nature 
and  properties  of  steam. 

When  finally  sent  to  the  village  school,  his  ill  health 
prevented  his  making  rapid  progress  ;  and  it  was  only 
when  thirteen  or  fourteen  years  of  age  that  he  began  to 
show  that  he  was  capable  of  taking  the  lead  in  his  class,  and 
to  exhibit  his  ability  in  the  study,  particularly,  of  mathe- 
matics. His  spare  time  was  principally  spent  in  sketching 
with  his  pencil,  in  carving,  and  in  working  at  the  bench, 
both  in  wood  and  metal.  He  made  many  ingenious  pieces 
of  mechanism,  and  some  beautiful  models.  His  favorite 
work  seemed  to  be  the  repairing  of  nautical  instruments. 
Among  other  pieces  of  apparatus  made  by  the  boy  was 
a  very  fine  barrel-organ.  In  boyhood,  as  in  after-life,  he 
was  a  diligent  reader,  and  seemed  to  find  something  to  in- 
terest him  in  every  book  that  came  into  his  hands. 

At  the  age  of  eighteen,  Watt  was  sent  to  Glasgow,  there 
to  reside  with  his  mother's  relatives,  and  to  learn  the  trade 
of  a  mathematical-instrument  maker.  The  mechanic  with 
whom  he  was  placed  was  soon  found  too  indolent,  or  was 
otherwise  incapable  of  giving  much  aid  in  the  project,  and 
Dr.  Dick,  of  the  University  of  Glasgow,  with  whom  Watt 
became  acquainted,  advised  him  to  go  to  London.  Accord- 

1  The  same  story  is  told  of  Savery  and  of  Worcester. 


82  THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE   MODERN   STEAM-ENGINE. 

ingly,  he  set  out  in  June,  1755,  for  the  metropolis,  where,  on 
his  arrival,  he  arranged  with  Mr.  John  Morgan,  in  Cornhill, 
to  work  a  year  at  his  chosen  business,  receiving  as  compen- 
sation 20  guineas.  At  the  end  of  the  year  he  was  compelled, 
by  serious  ill-health,  to  return  home. 

Having  become  restored  to  health,  he  went  again  to 
Glasgow  in  1756,  with  the  intention  of  pursuing  his  calling 
there.  But,  not  being  the  son  of  a  burgess,  and  not  having 
served  his  apprenticeship  in  the  town,  he  was  forbidden  by 
the  guilds,  or  trades-unions,  to  open  a  shop  in  Glasgow. 
Dr.  Dick  came  to  his  aid,  and  employed  him  to  repair  some 
apparatus  which  had  been  bequeathed  to  the  college.  He 
was  finally  allowed  the  use  of  three  rooms  in  the  University 
building,  its  authorities  not  being  under  the  municipal  rule. 
He  remained  here  until  1760,  when,  the  trades  no  longer 
objecting,  he  took  a  shop  in  the  city  ;  and  in  1761  moved 
again,  into  a  shop  on  the  north  side  of  the  Trongate,  where 
he  earned  a  scanty  living  without  molestation,  and  still 
kept  up  his  connection  with  the  college.  He  did  some  work 
as  a  civil  engineer  in  the  neighborhood  of  Glasgow,  but 
soon  gave  up  all  other  employment,  and  devoted  himself 
entirely  to  mechanics. 

He  spent  much  of  his  leisure  time — of  which  he  had,  at 
first,  more  than  was  desirable — in  making  philosophical  ex- 
periments and  in  the  manufacture  of  musical  instruments, 
in  making  himself  familiar  with  the  sciences,  and  in  devis- 
ing improvements  in  the  construction  of  organs.  In  order 
to  pursue  his  researches  more  satisfactorily,  he  studied  Ger- 
man and  Italian,  and  read  Smith's  "  Harmonics,"  that  he 
might  become  familiar  with  the  principles  of  construction  of 
musical  instruments.  His  reading  was  still  very  desultory  ; 
but  the  introduction  of  the  Newcomen  engine  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Glasgow,  and  the  presence  of  a  model  in  the 
college  collections,  which  was  placed  in  his  hands,  in  1763, 
for  repair,  led  him  to  study  the  history  of  the  steam-en- 
gine, and  to  conduct  for  himself  an  experimental  research 


JAMES   WATT  AND   HIS   INVENTIONS.  83 

into  the  properties  of  steam,  with  a  set  of  improvised  appa- 
ratus. 

Dr.  Robison,  then  a  student  of  the  University,  who 
found  Watt's  shop  a  pleasant  place  in  which  to  spend  his 
leisure,  and  whose  tastes  affiliated  so  strongly  with  those  of 
Watt  that  they  became  friends  immediately  upon  making 
acquaintance,  called  the  attention  of  the  instrument-maker 
to  the  steam-engine  as  early  as  1759,  and  suggested  that  it 
might  be  applied  to  the  propulsion  of  carriages.  Watt  was 
at  once  interested,  and  went  to  work  on  a  little  model,  hav- 
ing tin  steam-cylinders  and  pistons  connected  to  the  driving- 
wheels  by  an  intermediate  system  of  gearing.  The  scheme 
was  afterwards  given  up,  and  was  not  revived  by  Watt  for  a 
quarter  of  a  century. 

Watt  studied  chemistry,  and  was  assisted  by  the  advice 
and  instruction  of  Dr.  Black,  who  was  then  making  the  re- 
searches which  resulted  in  the  discovery  of  "  latent  heat." 
His  proposal  to  repair  the  model  Newcomen  engine  in  the 
college  collections  led  to  his  study  of  Desagulier's  treatise, 
and  of  the  works  of  Switzer  and  others.  He  thus  learned 
what  had  been  done  by  Savery  and  by  Newcomen,  and 
by  those  who  had  improved  the  engine  of  the  latter. 

In  his  own  experiments  he  used,  at  first,  apothecaries' 
phials  and  hollow  canes  for  steam  reservoirs  and  pipes,  and 
later  a  Papin's  digester  and  a  common  syringe.  The  latter 
combination  made  a  non-condensing  engine,  in  which  he 
used  steam  at  a  pressure  of  15  pounds  per  square  inch. 
The  valve  was  worked  by  hand,  and  Watt  saw  that  an 
automatic  valve-gear  only  was  needed  to  make  a  working 
machine.  This  experiment,  however,  led  to  no  practical  re- 
sult. He  finally  took  hold  of  the  Newcomen  model,  which 
had  been  obtained  from  London,  where  it  had  been  sent 
for  repairs,  and,  putting  it  in  good  working  order,  com- 
menced experiments  with  that. 

The  Newcomen  model,  as  it  happened,  had  a  boiler 
which,  although  made  to  a  scale  from  engines  in  actual  use, 


84   THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE   MODERN   STEAM-ENGINE. 

was  quite  incapable  of  furnishing  steam  enough  to  work  the 
engine.  It  was  about  nine  inches  in  diameter  ;  the  steam- 
cylinder  was  two  inches  in  diameter,  and  of  six  inches  stroke 
of  piston,  arranged  as  in  Fig.  24,  which  is  a  picture  of  the 
model  as  it  now  appears.  It  is  retained  among  the  most 
carefully-preserved  treasures  of  the  University  of  Glasgow. 


FIG.  24. — The  Nowcomen  Model. 

Watt  made  a  new  boiler  for  the  experimental  investiga- 
tion on  which  he  was  about  to  enter,  and  arranged  it  in  such 
a  manner  that  he  could  measure  the  quantity  of  water  evap- 
orated and  of  steam  used  at  every  stroke  of  the  engine. 

He  soon  discovered  that  it  required  but  a  very  small 
quantity  of  steam  to  heat  a  very  large  quantity  of  water, 
and  immediately  attempted  to  determine  with  precision  the 
relative  weights  of  steam  and  water  in  the  steam-cylinder 
wrhen  condensation  took  place  at  the  down-stroke  of  the 


JAMES  WATT   AND   HIS   INVENTIONS.  35 

engine,  and  thus  independently  proved  the  existence  of  that 
"  latent  heat,"  the  discovery  of  which  constitutes,  also,  one 
of  the  greatest  of  Dr.  Black's  claims  to  distinction.  Watt 
at  once  went  to  Dr.  Black  and  related  the  remarkable  fact 
which  he  had  thus  detected,  and  was,  in  turn,  taught  by 
Black  the  character  of  the  phenomenon  as  it  had  been  ex- 
plained to  his  classes  by  the  latter  some  little  time  previous- 
ly. Watt  found  that,  at  the  boiling-point,  his  steam,  con- 
densing, was  capable  of  heating  six  times  its  weight  of 
water  such  as  was  used  for  producing  condensation. 

Perceiving  that  steam,  weight  for  weight  even,  was  a 
vastly  greater  absorbent  and  reservoir  of  heat  than  water, 
Watt  saw  plainly  the  importance  of  taking  greater  care  to 
economize  it  than  had  previously  been  customary.  He  first 
attempted  to  economize  in  the  boiler,  and  made  boilers  with 
wooden  "  shells,"  in  order  to  prevent  losses  by  conduction 
and  radiation,  and  used  a  larger  number  of  flues  to  secure 
more  complete  absorption  of  the  heat  from  the  furnace- 
gases.  He  also  covered  his  steam-pipes  with  non-conduct- 
ing materials,  and  took  every  precaution  that  his  ingenuity 
could  devise  to  secure  complete  utilization  of  the  heat  of 
combustion.  He  soon  found,  however,  that  he  was  not 
working  at  the  most  important  point,  and  that  the  great 
source  of  loss  was  to  be  found  in  defects  which  he  noted  in 
the  action  of  the  steam  in  the  cylinder.  He  soon  concluded 
that  the  sources  of  loss  of  heat  in  the  Newcomen  engine — 
which  would  be  greatly  exaggerated  in  a  small  model — were  : 

First,  the  dissipation  of  heat  by  the  cylinder  itself, 
which  was  of  brass,  and  was  both  a  good  conductor  and  a 
good  radiator. 

Secondly,  the  loss  of  heat  consequent  upon  the  necessity 
of  cooling  down  the  cylinder  at  every  stroke,  in  producing 
the  vacuum. 

Thirdly,  the  loss  of  power  due  to  the  pressure  of  vapor 
beneath  the  piston,  which  was  a  consequence  of  the  imper- 
fect method  of  condensation. 


86   THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  MODERN   STEAM-ENGINE. 

He  first  made  a  cylinder  of  non-conducting  material — 
wood  soaked  in  oil  and  then  baked — and  obtained  a  de- 
cided advantage  in  economy  of  steam.  He  then  conducted 
a  series  of  very  accurate  experiments  upon  the  temperature 
and  pressure  of  steam  at  such  points  on  the  scale  as  he  could 
readily  reach,  and,  constructing  a  curve  with  his  results, 
the  abscesses  representing  temperatures  and  the  pressures 
being  represented  by  the  ordinates,  he  ran  the  curve  back- 
ward until  he  had  obtained  closely-approximate  measures  of 
temperatures  less  than  212°,  and  pressures  less  than  atmos- 
pheric. He  thus  found  that,  with  the  amount  of  injection- 
water  used  in  the  Newcomen  engine,  bringing  the  tempera- 
ture of  the  interior,  as  he  found,  down  to  from  140°  to  175° 
Fahr.,  a  very  considerable  back-pressure  would  be  met  with. 

Continuing  his  examination  still  further,  he  measured 
the  amount  of  steam  used  at  each  stroke,  and,  comparing  it 
with  the  quantity  that  would  just  fill  the  cylinder,  he  found 
that  at  least  three-fourths  was  wasted.  The  quantity  of 
cold  water  necessary  to  produce  the  condensation  of  a  given 
weight  of  steam  was  next  determined  ;  and  he  found  that 
one  pound  of  steam  contained  enough  heat  to  raise  about 
six  pounds  of  cold  water,  as  used  for  condensation,  from  the 
temperature  of  52°  to  the  boiling-point ;  and,  going  still 
further,  he  found  that  he  was  compelled  to  use,  at  each 
stroke  of  the  Newcomen  engine,  four  times  as  much  injec- 
tion-water as  should  suffice  to  condense  a  cylinder  full  of 
steam.  This  confirmed  his  previous  conclusion  that  three- 
fourths  of  the  heat  supplied  to  the  engine  was  wasted. 

Watt  had  now,  therefore,  determined  by  his  own  re- 
searches, as  he  himself  enumerates  them,1  the  following 
facts  : 

"  1.  The  capacities  for  heat  of  iron,  copper,  and  of 
some  sorts  of  wood,  as  compared  with  water. 

"  2.  The  bulk  of  steam  compared  with  that  of  water. 

1  Robison's  "  Mechanical  Philosophy,"  edited  by  Brcwster. 


JAMES  WATT  AND   HIS  INVENTIONS.  87 

"3.  The  quantity  of  water  evaporated  in  a  certain 
boiler  by  a  pound  of  coal. 

"4.  The  elasticities  of  steam  at  various  temperatures 
greater  than  that  of  boiling  water,  and  an  approximation  to 
the  law  which  it  follows  at  other  temperatures. 

"5.  How  much  water  in  the  form  of  steam  was  re- 
quired every  stroke  by  a  small  Newcomen  engine,  with  a 
wooden  cylinder  6  inches  in  diameter  and  12  inches  stroke. 

"  6.  The  quantity  of  cold  water  required  in  every  stroke 
to  condense  the  steam  in  that  cylinder,  so  as  to  give  it  a 
working-power  of  about  7  pounds  on  the  square  inch." 

After  these  well-devised  and  truly  scientific  investiga- 
tions, Watt  was  enabled  to  enter  upon  his  work  of  improv- 
ing the  steam-engine  with  an  intelligent  understanding  of 
its  existing  defects,  and  with  a  knowledge  of  their  cause. 
Watt  soon  saw  that,  in  order  to  reduce  the  losses  in  the 
working  of  the  steam  in  the  steam-cylinder,  it  would  be 
necessary  to  find  some  means,  as  he  said,  to  keep  the  cylin- 
der "  always  as  hot  as  the  steam  that  entered  it,"  notwith- 
standing the  great  fluctuations  of  temperature  and  pressure 
of  the  steam  during  the  up  and  the  down  strokes.  He  has 
told  us  how,  finally,  the  happy  thought  occurred  to  him 
which  relieved  him  of  all  difficulty,  and  led  to  the  series  of 
modifications  which  at  last  gave  to  the  world  the  modern 
type  of  steam-engine. 

He  says : '  "I  had  gone  to  take  a  walk  on  a  fine  Sab- 
bath afternoon.  I  had  entered  the  Green  by  the  gate  at 
the  foot  of  Charlotte  street,  and  had  passed  the  old  wash- 
ing-house. I  was  thinking  upon  the  engine  at  the  time, 
and  had  gone  as  far  as  the  herd's  house,  when  the  idea  came 
into  my  mind  that,  as  steam  was  an  elastic  body,  it  would 
rush  into  a  vacuum,  and,  if  a  communication  were  made  be- 
tween the  cylinder  and  an  exhausted  vessel,  it  would  rush 
into  it,  and  might  be  there  condensed  without  cooling  the 

1  "  Reminiscences  of  James  Watt,"  Robert  Hart ;  "  Transactions  of  the 
Glasgow  Archaeological  Society,"  1859. 


88   THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE   MODERN   STEAM-ENGINE. 

cylinder.  I  then  saw  that  I  must  get  rid  of  the  condensed 
steam  and  injection- water  if  I  used  a  jet,  as  in  Newcomen's 
engine.  Two  ways  of  doing  this  occurred  to  me  :  First, 
the  water  might  be  run  off  by  a  descending  pipe,  if  an  off- 
let  could  be  got  at  the  depth  of  35  or  36  feet,  and  any  air 
might  be  extracted  by  a  small  pump.  The  second  was,  to 
make  the  pump  large  enough  to  extract  both  water  and  air." 
"  I  had  not  walked  farther  than  the  Golf-house,  when  the 
whole  thing  was  arranged  in  my  mind." 

Referring  to  this  invention,  Watt  said  to  Prof.  Jardine  :  * 
"  When  analyzed,  the  invention  would  not  appear  so  great 
as  it  seemed  to  be.  In  the  state  in  which  I  found  the 
steam-engine,  it  was  no  great  effort  of  mind  to  observe  that 
the  quantity  of  fuel  necessary  to  make  it  work  would 
forever  prevent  its  extensive  utility.  The  next  step  in 
my  progress  was  equally  easy — to  inquire  what  was  the 
cause  of  the  great  consumption  of  fuel.  This,  too,  was 
readily  suggested,  viz.,  the  waste  of  fuel  which  was  neces- 
sary to  bring  the  whole  cylinder,  piston,  and  adjacent  parts 
from  the  coldness  of  water  to  the  heat  of  steam,  no  fewer 
than  from  15  to  20  times  in  a  minute."  It  was  by  pursu- 
ing this  train  of  thought  that  he  was  led  to  devise  the  sep- 
arate condenser. 

On  Monday  morning  Watt  proceeded  to  make  an  exper- 
imental test  of  his  new  invention,  using  for  his  steam-cyl- 
inder and  piston  a  large  brass  surgeon's-syringe,  If-inch 
diameter  and  10  inches  long.  At  each  end  was  a  pipe  lead- 
ing steam  from  the  boiler,  and  fitted  with  a  cock  to  act  as 
a  steam-valve.  A  pipe  led  also  from  the  top  of  the  cylin- 
der to  the  condenser,  the  syringe  being  inverted  and  the 
piston-rod  hanging  downward  for  convenience.  The  con- 
denser was  made  of  two  pipes  of  thin  tin  plate,  10  or  12 
inches  long,  and  about,  one-sixth  of  an  inch  in  diameter, 
standing  vertically,  and  having  a  connection  at  the  top 

1  "  Lives  of  Boulton  and  Watt,"  Smiles. 


JAMES   WATT   AND   HIS   INVENTIONS. 


89 


with  a  horizontal  pipe  of  larger  size,  and  fitted  with  a 
"  snifting-valve."  Another  vertical  pipe,  about  an  inch  in 
diameter,  was  connected  to  the  condenser,  and  was  fitted 
with  a  piston,  with  a  view  to  using  it  as  an  "  air-pump." 
The  whole  was  set  in  a  cistern  of  cold  water.  The  piston- 
rod  of  the  little  steam-cylinder  was  drilled  from  end  to  end 
to  permit  the  water  to  be  removed  from  the  cylinder.  This 
little  model  (Fig.  25)  worked  very  satisfactorily,  and  the 
perfection  of  the  vacuum  was  such  that  the  machine  lifted 
a  weight  of  18  pounds  hung  upon  the  piston-rod,  as  in  the 


Experiment. 


sketch.  A  larger  model  was  immediately  afterward  con- 
structed, and  the  result  of  its  test  confirmed  fully  the  antici- 
pations which  had  been  awakened  by  the  first  experiment. 

Having  taken  this  first  step  and  made  such  a  radical 
improvement,  the  success  of  this  invention  was  no  sooner 
determined  than  others  followed  in  rapid  succession,  as  con- 
sequences of  the  exigencies  arising  from  the  first  change  in 
the  old  Newcomen  engine.  But  in  the  working  out  of  the 
forms  and  proportions  of  the  details  of  the  new  engine, 
even  Watt's  powerful  mind,  stored  as  it  was  with  happily- 
combined  scientific  and  practical  information,  was  occupied 


90   THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 

for  years.  In  attaching  the  separate  condenser,  he  first 
attempted  surface-condensation  ;  but  this  not  succeeding 
well,  he  substituted  the  jet.  Some  provision  became  at 
once  necessary  for  preventing  the  filling  of  the  condenser 
with  water. 

Watt  at  first  intended  adopting  the  expedient  which  had 
worked  satisfactorily  with  the  less  effective  condensation  of 
Newcomen's  engine — i.  e.,  leading  a  pipe  from  the  condenser 
to  a  depth  greater  than  the  height  of  a  column  of  water 
which  could  be  counterbalanced  by  the  pressure  of  the 
atmosphere  ;  but  he  subsequently  employed  the  air-pump, 
which  relieves  the  condenser  not  only  of  the  water,  but  of 
the  air  which  also  usually  collects  in  considerable  volume  in 
the  condenser,  and  vitiates  the  vacuum.  He  next  substituted 
oil  and  tallow  for  water  in  the  lubrication  of  the  piston  and 
keeping  it  steam-tight,  in  order  to  avoid  the  cooling  of  the 
cylinder  incident  to  the  use  of  the  latter.  Another  cause 
of  refrigeration  of  the  cylinder,  and  consequent  waste  of 
power  in  its  operation,  was  seen  to  be  the  entrance  of  the 
atmosphere,  which  followed  the  piston  down  the  cylinder  at 
each  stroke,  cooling  its  interior  by  its  contact.  This  the 
inventor  concluded  to  prevent  by  covering  the  top  of  the 
cylinder,  allowing  the  piston-rod  to  play  through  a  "  stuffing- 
box  " — which  device  had  long  been  known  to  mechanics. 

He  accordingly  not  only  covered  the  top,  but  sur- 
rounded the  whole  cylinder  with  an  external  casing,  or 
"  steam-jacket,"  and  allowed  the  steam  from  the  boiler  to 
pass  around  the  steam-cylinder  and  to  press  upon  the  upper 
surface  of  the  piston,  where  its  pressure  was  variable  at 
pleasure,  and  therefore  more  manageable  than  that  of  the 
atmosphere.  It  also,  besides  keeping  the  cylinder  hot, 
could  do  comparatively  little  harm  should  it  leak  by  the 
piston,  as  it  could  be  condensed,  and  thus  readily  disposed  of. 

When  he  had  concluded  to  build  the  larger  experimen- 
tal engine,  Watt  determined  to  give  his  whole  time  and  at- 
tention to  the  work,  and  hired  a  room  in  an  old  deserted 


JAMES  WATT   AND   HIS   INVENTIONS.  91 

pottery  near  the  Broomielaw.  Here  he  worked  with  a 
mechanic — John  Gardiner,  whom  he  had  taken  into  his  em- 
ploy— uninterruptedly  for  many  weeks.  Meantime,  through 
his  friend  Dr.  Black,  probably,  he  had  made  the  acquaint- 
ance of  Dr.  Roebuck,  a  wealthy  physician,  who  had,  with 
other  Scotch  capitalists,  just  founded  the  celebrated  Carron 
Iron-Works,  and  had  opened  a  correspondence  with  him,  in 
which  he  kept  that  gentleman  informed  of  the  progress  of 
his  work  on  the  new  engine. 

This  engine  had  a  steam-cylinder,  Watt  tells  us,  of  "  five 
or  six  "  inches  diameter,  and  of  two  feet  stroke.  It  was  of 
copper,  smooth-hammered,  but  not  bored  out,  and  "  not 
veiy  true."  This  was  encased  in  another  cylinder  of  wood. 
In  August,  1765,  he  tried  the  small  engine,  and  wrote  Dr. 
Roebuck  that  he  had  had  "  good  success,"  although  the 
machine  was  very  imperfect.  "  On  turning  the  exhaust- 
ing-cock, the  piston,  when  not  loaded,  ascended  as  quick  as 
the  blow  of  a  hammer,  and  as  quick  when  loaded  with  18 
pounds  (being  7  pounds  on  the  inch)  as  it  would  have  done 
if  it  had  had  an  injection  as  usual."  He  then  tells  his 
correspondent  that  he  was  about  to  make  the  larger  model. 
In  October,  1765,  he  finished  the  latter.  The  engine,  when 
ready  for  trial,  was  still  very  imperfect.  It  nevertheless  did 
good  work  for  so  rude  a  machine. 

Watt  was  now  reduced  to  poverty,  and,  after  borrowing 
considerable  sums  from  friends,  he  was  finally  compelled  to 
give  up  his  scheme  for  the  time,  and  to  seek  employment  in 
order  to  provide  for  his  family.  During  an  interval  of  about 
two  years  he  supported  himself  by  surveying,  and  by  the 
work  of  exploring  coal-fields  in  the  neighborhood  of  Glas- 
gow for  the  magistrates  of  the  city.  He  did  not,  however, 
entirely  give  up  his  invention. 

In  1767,  Dr.  Roebuck  assumed  Watt's  liabilities  to  the 
amount  of  £1,000,  and  agreed  to  provide  capital  for  the  pros- 
ecution of  his  experiments  and  to  introduce  his  invention ; 
and,  on  the  other  hand,  Watt  agreed  to  surrender  to  Dr. 


92   THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE   MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 

Roebuck  two-thirds  of  the  patent.  Another  engine  was 
next  built,  having  a  steam-cylinder  seven  or  eight  inches 
in  diameter,  which  was  finished  in  1768.  This  worked  suf- 
ficiently well  to  induce  the  partners  to  ask  for  a  patent,  and 
the  specifications  and  drawings  were  completed  and  pre- 
sented in  1769. 

Watt  also  built  and  set  up  several  Newcomen  engines, 
partly,  perhaps,  to  make  himself  thus  thoroughly  familiar 
with  the  practical  details  of  engine-building.  Meantime, 
also,  he  prepared  the  plans  for,  and  finally  had  built,  a  mod- 
erately large  engine  of  his  own  new  type.  Its  steam-cylin- 
der was  18  inches  in  diameter,  and  the  stroke  of  piston  was 
5  feet.  This  engine  was  built  at  Kinneil,  and  was  finished 
in  September,  1769.  It  was  not  all  satisfactory  in  either 
its  construction  or  its  operation.  The  condenser  was  a 
surface-condenser  composed  of  pipes  somewhat  like  that 
used  in  his  first  little  model,  and  did  not  prove  to  be  satisfac- 
torily tight.  The  steam-piston  leaked  seriously,  and  repeat- 
ed trials  only  served  to  make  more  evident  its  imperfections. 
He  was  assisted  in  this  time  of  need  by  both  Dr.  Black  and 
Dr.  Roebuck  ;  but  he  felt  strongly  the  risks  which  he  ran 
of  involving  his  friends  in  serious  losses,  and  became  very 
despondent.  Writing  to  Dr.  Black,  he  says :  "  Of  all 
things  in  life,  there  is  nothing  more  foolish  than  inventing  ; " 
and  probably  the  majority  of  inventors  have  been  led  to  the 
same  opinion  by  their  own  experiences. 

"  Misfortunes  never  come  singly  ; "  and  Watt  was  borne 
down  by  the  greatest  of  all  misfortunes — the  loss  of  a  faith- 
ful and  affectionate  wife — while  still  unable  to  see  a  suc- 
cessful issue  of  his  schemes.  Only  less  disheartening  than 
this  was  the  loss  of  fortune  of  his  steadfast  friend,  Dr.  Roe- 
buck, and  the  consequent  loss  of  his  aid.  It  was  at  about 
this  time,  in  the  year  1769,  that  negotiations  were  com- 
menced which  resulted  in  the  transfer  of  the  capitalized  in- 
terest in  Watt's  engine  to  the  wealthy  manufacturer  whose 
name,  coupled  with  that  of  Watt,  afterward  became  known 


JAMES   WATT   AND   HIS   INVENTIONS.  93 

throughout  the  civilized  -world,  as  the  steam-engine  in  its 
new  form  was  pushed  into  use  by  his  energy  and  business 
tact. 

Watt  met  Mr.  Boulton,  who  next  became  his  partner,  in 
1768,  on  his  journey  to  London  to  procure  his  patent,  and 
the  latter  had  then  examined  Watt's  designs,  and,  at  once 
perceiving  their  value,  proposed  to  purchase  an  interest. 
Watt  was  then  unable  to  reply  definitely  to  Boulton's  prop- 
osition, pending  his  business  arrangements  with  Dr.  Roe- 
buck ;  but,  with  Roebuck's  consent,  afterwards  proposed 
that  Boulton  should  take  a  one-third  interest  with  himself 
and  partner,  paying  Roebuck  therefor  one-half  of  all  ex- 
penses previously  incurred,  and  whatever  he  should  choose 
to  add  to  compensate  "  for  the  risk  he  had  run."  Subse- 
quently, Dr.  Roebuck  proposed  to  transfer  to  Boulton  and 
to  Dr.  Small,  who  was  desirous  of  taking  interest  with 
Boulton,  one-half  of  his  proprietorship  in  Watt's  inventions, 
on  receiving  "  a  sum  not  less  than  one  thousand  pounds," 
which  should,  after  the  experiments  on  the  engine  were 
completed,  be  deemed  "just  and  reasonable."  Twelve 
months  were  allowed  for  the  adjustment  of  the  account. 
This  proposal  was  accepted  in  November,  1709. 

MATTHEW  BOULTON,  who  now  became  a  partner  with 
James  Watt,  was  the  son  of  a  Birmingham  silver  stamper 
and  piecer,  and  succeeded  to  his  father's  business,  building 
up  a  great  establishment,  which,  as  well  as  its  proprietor, 
was  well  known  in  Watt's  time.  Watt,  writing  to  Dr. 
Roebuck  before  the  final  arrangement  had  been  made, 
urged  him  to  close  with  Boulton  for  "  the  following  consid- 
erations : 

"  1st.  From  Mr.  Boulton's  own  character  as  an  inge- 
nious, honest,  and  rich  man.  2dly.  From  the  difficulty  and 
expense  there  would  be  of  procuring  accurate  and  honest 
workmen  and  providing  them  with  proper  utensils,  and 
getting  a  proper  overseer  or  overseers.  If,  to  avoid  this 
inconvenience,  you  were  to  contract  for  the  work  to  be  done 


94   THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE   MODERN   STEAM-ENGIXE. 

by  a  master-workman,  you  must  give  up  a  great  share  of 
the  profit.  3dly.  The  success  of  the  engine  is  far  from 
being  verified.  If  Mr.  Boulton  takes  his  chance  of  success 
from  the  account  I  shall  write  Dr.  Small,  and  pays  you 
any  adequate  share  of  the  money  laid  out,  it  lessens  your  risk, 


Matthew  Boulton. 

and  in  a  greater  proportion  than  I  think  it  will  lessen  your 
profits.  4thly.  The  assistance  of  Mr.  Boulton's  and  Dr. 
Small's  ingenuity  (if  the  latter  engage  in  it)  in  improving 
and  perfecting  the  machine  may  be  very  considerable,  and 
may  enable  us  to  get  the  better  of  the  difficulties  that  might 
otherwise  damn  it.  Lastly,  consider  my  uncertain  health, 
my  irresolute  and  inactive  disposition,  my  inability  to  bar- 
gain and  struggle  for  my  own  with  mankind  :  all  which 
disqualify  me  for  any  great  undertaking.  On  our  side, 
consider  the  first  outlay  and  interest,  the  patent,  the  present 
engine,  about  £200  (though  there  would  not  be  much  loss 


JAMES  WATT  AND   HIS   INVENTIONS.  95 

in  making  it  into  a  common  engine),  two  years  of  my  time, 
and  the  expense  of  models." 

Watt's  estimate  of  the  value  of  Boulton's  ingenuity  and 
talent  was  well-founded.  Boulton  had  shown  himself  a  good 
scholar,  and  had  acquired  considerable  knowledge  of  the 
languages  and  of  the  sciences,  particularly  of  mathematics, 
after  leaving  the  school  from  which  he  graduated  into  the 
shop  when  still  a  boy.  In  the  shop  he  soon  introduced 
a  number  of  valuable  improvements,  and  he  was  always 
on  the  lookout  for  improvements  made  by  others,  with  a 
view  to  their  introduction  in  his  business.  He  was  a  man 
of  the  modern  style,  and  never  permitted  competitors  to 
excel  him  in  any  respect,  without  the  strongest  efforts  to 
retain  his  leading  position.  He  always  aimed  to  earn  a 
reputation  for  good  work,  as  well  as  to  make  money.  His 
father's  workshop  was  at  Birmingham  ;  but  Boulton,  after  a 
time,  found  that  his  rapidly-increasing  business  would  com- 
pel him  to  find  room  for  the  erection  of  a  more  extensive 
establishment,  and  he  secured  land  at  Soho,  two  miles  dis- 
tant from  Birmingham,  and  there  erected  his  new  manu- 
factory, about  1762. 

The  business  was,  at  first,  the  manufacture  of  ornamen- 
tal metal-ware,  such  as  metal  buttons,  buckles,  watch-chains, 
and  light  filigree  and  inlaid  work.  The  manufacture  of 
gold  and  silver  plated-ware  was  soon  added,  and  this  branch 
of  business  gradually  developed  into  a  very  extensive  man- 
ufacture of  works  of  art.  Boulton  copied  fine  work  wher- 
ever he  could  find  it,  and  often  borrowed  vases,  statuettes, 
and  bronzes  of  all  kinds  from  the  nobility  of  England,  and 
even  from  the  queen,  from  which  to  make  copies.  The 
manufacture  of  inexpensive  clocks,  such  as  are  now  well 
known  throughout  the  world  as  an  article  of  American  trade, 
was  begun  by  Boulton.  He  made  some  fine  astronomical 
and  valuable  ornamental  clocks,  which  were  better  appre- 
ciated on  the  Continent  than  in  England.  The  business  of 
the  Soho  manufactory  in  a  few  years  became  so  extensive, 


96   THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 

that  its  goods  were  known  to  every  civilized  nation,  and  its 
growth,  under  the  management  of  the  enterprising,  consci- 
entious, and  ingenious  Boulton,  more  than  kept  pace  with 
the  accumulation  of  capital ;  and  the  proprietor  found  him- 
self, by  his  very  prosperity,  often  driven  to  the  most  care- 
ful manipulation  of  his  assets,  and  to  making  free  use  of 
his  credit. 

Boulton  had  a  remarkable  talent  for  making  valuable 
acquaintances,  and  for  making  the  most  of  advantages  ac- 
cruing thereby.  In  1758  he  made  the  acquaintance  of 
Benjamin  Franklin,  who  then  visited  Soho ;  and  in  1766 
these  distinguished  men,  who  were  then  unaware  of  the 
existence  of  James  Watt,  were  corresponding,  and,  in  their 
letters,  discussing  the  applicability  of  steam-power  to  various 
useful  purposes.  Between  the  two  a  new  steam-engine  was 
designed,  and  a  model  was  constructed  by  Boulton,  which 
was  sent  to  Franklin  and  exhibited  by  him  in  London. 

Dr.  Darwin  seems  to  have  had  something  to  do  with 
this  scheme,  and  the  enthusiasm  awakened  by  the  promise 
of  success  given  by  this  model  may  have  been  the  origin  of 
the  now  celebrated  prophetic  rhymes  so  often  quoted  from 
the  works  of  that  eccentric  physician  and  poet.  Franklin 
contributed,  as  his  share  in  the  plan,  an  idea  of  so  arranging 
the  grate  as  to  prevent  the  production  of  smoke.  He  says  : 
"  All  that  is  necessary  is  to  make  the  smoke  of  fresh  coals 
pass  descending  through  those  that  are  already  ignited." 
His  idea  has  been,  by  more  recent  schemers,  repeatedly 
brought  forward  as  new.  Nothing  resulted  from  these  ex- 
periments of  Boulton,  Franklin,  and  Darwin,  and  the  plan 
of  Watt  soon  superseded  all  less  well-developed  plans. 

In  1767,  Watt  visited  Soho  and  carefully  inspected 
Boulton's  establishment.  He  was  very  favorably  impressed 
by  the  admirable  arrangement  of  the  workshops  and  the 
completeness  of  their  outfit,  as  well  as  by  the  perfection  of 
the  organization  and  administration  of  the  business.  In 
the  following  year  he  again  visited  Soho,  and  this  time  met 


JAMES   WATT   AND   HIS   INVENTIONS.  97 

Boulton,  who  had  been  absent  at  the  previous  visit.  The 
two  great  mechanics  were  mutually  gratified  by  the  meet- 
ing, and  each  at  once  acquired  for  the  other  the  greatest 
respect  and  esteem.  They  discussed  "Watt's  plans,  and 
Boulton  then  definitely  decided  not  to  continue  his  own 
experiments,  although  he  had  actually  commenced  the  con- 
struction of  a  pumping-engine.  "With  Dr.  Small,  who  was 
also  at  Soho,  Watt  discussed  the  possibility  of  applying  his 
engine  to  the  propulsion  of  carriages,  and  to  other  purposes. 
On  his  return  home,  "Watt  continued  his  desultory  labors 
on  his  engines,  as  already  described ;  and  the  final  comple- 
tion of  the  arrangement  with  Boulton,  which  immediately 
followed  the  failure  of  Dr.  Roebuck,  took  place  some  time 
later. 

Before  "Watt  could  leave  Scotland  to  join  his  pai'tner  at 
Soho,  it  was  necessary  that  he  should  finish  the  work  which 
he  had  in  hand,  including  the  surveys  of  the  Caledonian 
canal,  and  other  smaller  works,  which  he  had  had  in  progress 
some  months.  He  reached  Birmingham  in  the  spring  of 
1774,  and  was  at  once  domiciled  at  Soho,  where  he  set  at 
work  upon  the  partly-made  engines  which  had  been  sent 
from  Scotland  some  time  previously.  They  had  laid,  un- 
used and  exposed  to  the  weather,  at  Kinneil  three  years,  and 
were  not  in  as  good  order  as  might  have  been  desired.  The 
Hock-tin  steam-cylinder  was  probably  in  good  condition, 
but  the  iron  parts  were,  as  "Watt  said,  "  perishing,"  while 
he  had  been  engaged  in  his  civil  engineering  work.  At 
leisure  moments,  during  this  period,  "Watt  had  not  entirely 
neglected  his  plans  for  the  utilization  of  steam.  He  had 
given  much  thought,  and  had  expended  some  time,  in  exper- 
iments upon  the  plan  of  using  it  in  a  rotary  or  "  wheel " 
engine.  He  did  not  succeed  in  contriving  any  plan  which 
seemed  to  promise  success. 

It  was  in  November,  1774,  that  "Watt  finally  announced 
to  his  old  partner,  Dr.  Roebuck,  the  successful  trial  of  the 
Kinneil  engine.  He  did  not  write  with  the  usual  enthusi- 


98   THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  MODERN   STEAM-ENGINE. 

asm  and  extravagance  of  the  inventor,  for  his  frequent  dis- 
appointments and  prolonged  suspense  had  very  thoroughly 
extinguished  his  vivacity.  He  simply  wrote  :  "  The  fire- 
engine  I  have  invented  is  now  going,  and  answers  much 
better  than  any  other  that  has  yet  been  made  ;  and  I  ex- 
pect that  the  invention  will  be  very  beneficial  to  me." 

The  change  of  the  "  atmospheric  engine  "  of  Newcomen 


FIG.  26.— Watt's  Engine,  1774. 

into  the  modern  steam-engine  was  now  completed  in  its 
essential  details.  The  first  engine  which  was  erected  at 
Kinneil,  near  Boroughstoness,  had  a  steam-cylinder  18 
inches  in  diameter.  It  is  seen  in  the  accompanying  sketch. 

In  Fig.  26,  the  steam  passes  from  the  boiler  through  the 
pipe  d  and  the  valve  c  to  the  cylinder-casing  or  steam- 
jacket,  Y  Y,  and  above  the  piston,  b,  which  it  follows  in  its 


JAMES   WATT  AND   HIS  INVENTIONS.  99 

descent  in  the  cylinder,  a,  the  valve  f  being  at  this  time 
open,  to  allow  the  exhaust  into  the  condenser,  li. 

The  piston  now  being  at  the  lower  end  of  the  cylinder, 
and  the  pump-rods  at  the  opposite  end  of  the  beam,  y,  being 
thus  raised  and  the  pumps  filled  with  water,  the  valves  c 
and  f  close,  while  e  opens,  allowing  the  steam  which  re- 
mains above  the  piston  to  flow  beneath  it,  until,  the  pressures 
becoming  equal  above  and  below,  the  weight  of  the  pump- 
rods  overbalancing  that  of  the  piston,  the  latter  is  rapidly 
drawn  to  the  top  of  the  cylinder,  while  the  steam  is  dis- 
placed above,  passing  to  the  under-side  of  the  piston. 

The  valve  e  is  next  closed,  and  c  and /are  again  opened  ; 
the  down-stroke  is  repeated.  The  water  and  air  entering 
the  condenser  are  removed  at  each  stroke  by  the  air-pump, 
i,  which  communicates  with  the  condenser  by  the  passage  s. 
The  pump  q  supplies  condensing-water,  and  the  pump  A. 
takes  away  a  part  of  the  water  of  condensation,  which  is 
thrown  by  the  air-pump  into  the  "hot-well,"  Jc,  and  from 
it  the  feed-pump  supplies  the  boiler.  The  valves  are 
moved  by  valve-gear  very  similar  to  Beighton's  and  Smea- 
ton's,  by  the  pins,  m  m}  in  the  "  plug-frame  "  cr  "  tappet- 
rod,"  n  n. 

The  engine  is  mounted  upon  a  substantial  foundation, 
JB  J3.  f  is  an  opening  out  of  which,  before  starting  the 
engine,  the  air  is  driven  from  the  cylinder  and  condenser. 

The  inventions  covered  by  the  patent  of  1769  were  de- 
scribed as  follows  : 

"My  method  of  lessening  the  consumption  of  steam, 
and  consequently  fuel,  in  fire-engines,  consists  in  the  follow- 
ing principles  : 

"1st.  That  the  vessel  in  which  the  powers  of  steam  are 
to  be  employed  to  work  the  engine — which  is  called  '  the 
cylinder'  in  common  fire-engines,  and  which  I  call  'the 
steam-vessel ' — must,  during  the  whole  time  that  the  engine 
is  at  work,  be  kept  as  hot  as  the  steam  which  enters  it ;  first, 
by  inclosing  it  in  a  case  of  wood,  or  any  other  materials  that 


100  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 

transmit  heat  slowly  ;  secondly,  by  surrounding  it  with 
steam  or  other  heated  bodies  ;  and  thirdly,  by  suffering 
neither  water  nor  other  substances  colder  than  the  steam  to 
enter  or  touch  it  during  that  time. 

"  2dly.  In  engines  that  are  to  be  worked,  wholly  or  par- 
tially, by  condensation  of  steam,  the  steam  is  to  be  con- 
densed in  vessels  distinct  from  the  steam-vessel  or  cylinder, 
though  occasionally  communicating  with  them.  These  ves- 
sels I  call  condensers ;  and  while  the  engines  are  working, 
these  condensers  ought  at  least  to  be  kept  as  cold  as  the  air 
in  the  neighborhood  of  the  engines,  by  application  of  water 
or  other  cold  bodies. 

"  3dly.  Whatever  air  or  other  elastic  vapor  is  not  con- 
densed by  the  cold  of  the  condenser,  and  may  impede  the 
working  of  the  engine,  is  to  be  drawn  out  of  the  steam-ves- 
sels or  condensers  by  means  of  pumps,  wrought  by  the  en- 
gines themselves,  or  otherwise. 

"  4thly.  I  intend  in  many  cases  to  employ  the  expansive 
force  of  steam  to  press  on  the  pistons,  or  whatever  may  be 
used  instead  of  them,  in  the  same  manner  as  the  pressure 
of  the  atmosphere  is  now  employed  in  common  fire-engines. 
In  cases  where  cold  water  cannot  be  had  in  plenty,  the 
engines  may  be  wrought  by  this  force  of  steam  only,  by 
discharging  the  steam  into  the  open  air  after  it  has  done  its 
office. 

"5thly.  Where  motions  round  an  axis  are  required,  I 
make  the  steam-vessels  in  form  of  hollow  rings  or  circular 
channels,  with  proper  inlets  and  outlets  for  the  steam, 
mounted  on  horizontal  axles  like  the  wheels  of  a  water-mill. 
Within  them  are  placed  a  number  of  valves  that  suffer  any 
body  to  go  round  the  channel  in  one  direction  only.  In 
these  steam-vessels  are  placed  weights,  so  fitted  to  them  as 
to  fill  up  a  part  or  portion  of  their  channels,  yet  rendered 
capable  of  moving  freely  in  them  by  the  means  hereinafter 
mentioned  or  specified.  WTien  the  steam  is  admitted  in 
these  engines  between  these  weights  and  the  valves,  it  acts 


JAMES   WATT   AND   HIS   INVENTIONS.  1Q1 

equally  on  both,  so  as  to  raise  the  weight  on  one  side  of  the 
wheel,  and,  by  the  reaction  of  the  valves  successively,  to 
give  a  circular  motion  to  the  wheel,  the  valves  opening  in 
the  direction  in  which  the  weights  are  pressed,  but  not  in 
the  contrary.  As  the  vessel  moves  round,  it  is  supplied 
with  steam  from  the  boiler,  and  that  which  has  performed 
its  office  may  either  be  discharged  by  means  of  condensers, 
or  into  the  open  air. 

"  Gthly.  I  intend  in  some  cases  to  apply  a  degree  of 
cold  not  capable  of  reducing  the  steam  to  water,  but  of  con- 
tracting it  considerably,  so  that  the  engines  shall  be  worked 
by  the  alternate  expansion  and  contraction  of  the  steam. 

"  Lastly,  instead  of  using  water  to  render  the  piston  or 
other  parts  of  the  engine  air  or  steam-tight,  I  employ  oils, 
wax,  resinous  bodies,  fat  of  animals,  quicksilver,  and  other 
metals,  in  their  fluid  state." 

In  the  construction  and  erection  of  his  engines,  "Watt 
still  had  great  difficulty  in  finding  skillful  workmen  to  make 
the  parts  with  accuracy,  to  fit  them  with  care,  and  to  erect 
them  properly  when  once  finished.  And  the  fact  that  both 
Xewcomen  and  "Watt  met  with  such  serious  trouble,  indi- 
cates that,  even  had  the  engine  been  designed  earlier,  it  is 
quite  unlikely  that  the  world  would  have  seen  the  steam- 
engine  a  success  until  this  time,  when  mechanics  were  just 
acquiring  the  skill  requisite  for  its  construction.  But,  on 
the  other  hand,  it  is  not  at  all  improbable  that,  had  the  me- 
chanics of  an  earlier  period  been  as  skillful  and  as  well-edu- 
cated in  the  manual  niceties  of  their  business,  the  steam- 
engine  might  have  been  much  earlier  brought  into  use. 

In  the  time  of  the  Marquis  of  "Worcester  it  would  have 
probably  been  found  impossible  to  obtain  workmen  to  con- 
struct the  steam-engine  of  Watt,  had  it  been  then  invented. 
Indeed,  Watt,  upon  one  occasion,  congratulated  himself  that 
one  of  his  steam-cylinders  only  lacked  three-eighths  of  an 
inch  of  being  truly  cylindrical. 

The  history  of  the  steam-engine  is  from  this  time  a  his- 


102  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 

tory  of  the  work  of  the  firm  of  Boulton  &  Watt.  New- 
comen  engines  continued  to  be  built  for  years  after  Watt 
went  to  Soho,  and  by  many  builders.  A  host  of  invent- 
ors still  worked  on  the  most  attractive  of  all  mechanical  com- 
binations, seeking  to  effect  further  improvements.  Some 
inventions  were  made  by  contemporaries  of  Watt,  as  will 
be  seen  hereafter,  which  were  important  as  being  the  germs 
of  later  growths  ;  but  these  were  nearly  all  too  far  in  ad- 
vance of  the  time,  and  nearly  every  successful  and  impor- 
tant invention  which  marked  the  history  of  steam-power  for 
many  years  originated  in  the  fertile  brain  of  James  Watt. 

The  defects  of  the  Newcomen  engine  were  so  serious, 
that  it  was  no  sooner  known  that  Boulton  of  Soho  had 
become  interested  in  a  new  machine  for  raising  water  by 
steam-power,  than  inquiries  came  to  him  from  all  sides, 
from  mine-owners  who  were  on  the  point  of  being  drowned 
out,  and  from  proprietors  whose  profits  were  absorbed  by 
the  expense  of  pumping,  and  who  were  glad  to  pay  the  £5 
per  horse-power  per  year  finally  settled  upon  as  royalty. 
The  London  municipal  water-works  authorities  were  also 
ready  to  negotiate  for  pumping-engines  for  raising  water  to 
supply  the  metropolis.  The  firm  was  therefore  at  once 
driven  to  make  preparations  for  a  large  business. 

The  first  and  most  important  matter,  however,  was  to 
secure  an  extension  of  the  patent,  which  was  soon  to  expire. 
If  not  renewed,  the  15  years  of  study  and  toil,  of  pov- 
erty and  anxiety,  through  which  Watt  had  toiled,  would 
prove  profitless  to  the  inventor,  and  the  fruits  of  his  genius 
would  have  become  the  unearned  property  of  others.  Watt 
saw,  at  one  time,  little  hope  of  securing  the  necessary  act  of 
Parliament,  and  was  'greatly  tempted  to  accept  a  position 
tendered  him  by  the  Russian  Government,  upon  the  solici- 
tation of  his  old  friend,  Dr.  Robison,  then  a  Professor  of 
Mathematics  at  the  Naval  School  at  Cronstadt,  The  salary 
was  £1,000 — a  princely  income  for  a  man  in  Watt's  circum- 
stances, and  a  peculiar  temptation  to  the  needy  mechanic. 


JAMES  WATT   AND   HIS  INVENTIONS.  103 

"Watt,  however,  went  to  London,  and,  with  the  help  of 
his  own  and  of  Boulton's  influential  friends,  succeeded  in 
getting  his  bill  through.  His  patent  was  extended  24 
years,  and  Boulton  &  Watt  set  about  the  work  of  intro- 
ducing their  engines  with  the  industry  and  enterprise  which 
characterized  their  every  act. 

In  the  new  firm,  Boulton  took  charge  of  the  general 
business,  and  Watt  superintended  the  design,  construction, 
and  erection  of  their  engines.  Boulton's  business  capacity, 
with  Watt's  wonderful  mechanical  ability — Boulton's  phys- 
ical health,  and  his  vigor  and  courage,  offsetting  Watt's 
feeble  health  and  depression  of  spirits — and,  more  than  all, 
Boulton's  pecuniary  resources,  both  in  his  own  purse  and  in 
those  of  his  friends,  enabled  the  firm  to  conquer  all  diffi- 
culties, whether  in  finance,  in  litigation,  or  in  engineering. 

It  was  only  after  the  successful  erection  and  operation 
of  several  engines  that  Boulton  and  Watt  became  legally 
partners.  The  understood  terms  were  explicitly  stated  by 
AVatt  to  include  an  assignment  to  Boulton  of  two-thirds 
the  patent -right ;  Boulton  paying  all  expenses,  advancing 
stock  in  trade  at  an  appraised  valuation,  on  which  it  was  to 
draw  interest;  Watt  making  all  drawings  and  designs,  and 
drawing  one-third  net  profits. 

As  soon  as  Watt  was  relieved  of  the  uncertainties  re- 
garding his  business  connections,  he  married  a  second  wife, 
who,  as  Arago  says,  by  "her  various  talent,  soundness  of 
judgment,  and  strength  of  character,"  made  a  worthy  com- 
panion to  the  large-hearted  and  large-brained  engineer. 
Thenceforward  his  cares  were  only  such  as  every  business- 
man expects  to  be  compelled  to  sustain,  and  the  next  ten 
years  were  the  most  prolific  in  inventions  of  any  period  in 
Watt's  life. 

From  1775  to  1785  the  partners  acquired  five  patents, 
covering  a  large  number  of  valuable  improvements  upon 
the  steam-engine,  and  several  independent  inventions.  The 
first  of  these  patents  covered  the  now  familiar  and  univer- 


104  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  MODERN  STEAM-ENGIKE. 

sally-used  copying-press  for  letters,  and  a  machine  for  dry- 
ing cloth  by  passing  it  between  copper  rollers  filled  with 
steam  of  sufficiently  high  temperature  to  rapidly  evaporate 
the  moisture.  This  patent  was  issued  February  14,  1780. 


FIG.  2T.— Watt's  Engine,  1781. 


In  the  following  year,  October  25,  1781,  Watt  patented 
five  devices  by  which  he  obtained  the  rotary  motion  of  the 
engine-shaft  without  the  use  of  a  crank.  One  of  these  was 
the  arrangement  shown  in  Fig.  27,  and  known  as  the  "  sun- 


JAMES   WATT   AND   HIS   INVENTIONS.  1Q5 

and-planet "  wheels.  The  crank-shaft  carries  a  gear-wheel, 
which  is  engaged  by  another  securely  fixed  upon  the  end  of 
the  connecting-rod.  As  the  latter  is  compelled  to  revolve 
about  the  axis  of  the  shaft  by  a  tie  which  confines  the  con- 
necting-rod end  at  a  fixed  distance  from  the  shaft,  the 
shaft-gear  is  compelled  to  revolve,  and  the  shaft  with  it. 
Any  desired  velocity-ratio  was  secured  by  giving  the  two 
gears  the  necessary  relative  diameters.  A  fly-wheel  was 
used  to  regulate  the  motion  of  the  shaft.1  Boulton  &  Watt 
used  the  sun-and-planet  device  on  many  engines,  but  finally 
adopted  the  crank,  when  the  expiration  of  the  patent  held 
by  Matthew  Wasborough,  and  which  had  earlier  date  than 
Watt's  patent  of  1781,  permitted  them.  Watt  had  proposed 
the  use  of  a  crank,  it  is  said,  as  early  as  1771,  but  Wasbor- 
ough anticipated  him  in  securing  the  patent.  Watt  had  made 
a  model  of  an  engine  with  a  crank  and  fly-wheel,  and  he  has 
stated  that  one  of  his  workmen,  who  had  seen  the  model, 
described  it  to  Wasborough,  thus  enabling  the  latter  to  de- 
prive Watt  of  his  own  property.  The  proceeding  excited 
great  indignation  on  the  part  of  Watt ;  but  no  legal  action 
was  taken  by  Boulton  &  Watt,  as  the  overthrow  of  the 
patent  was  thought  likely  to  do  them  injury  by  permitting 
its  use  by  more  active  competitors  and  more  ingenious  men. 
The  next  patent  issued  to  Watt  was  an  exceedingly  im- 
portant one,  and  of  especial  interest  in  a  history  of  the 
development  of  the  economical  application  of  steam.  This 
patent  included  : 

1.  The  expansion  of  steam,  and  six  methods  of  applying 
the  principle  and  of  equalizing  the  expansive  power. 

2.  The  double-acting  steam-engine,  in  which  the  steam 
acts  on  each  side  the  piston  alternately,  the  opposite*  side 
being  in  communication  with  the  condenser. 

1  For  the  privilege  of  using  the  fly-wheel  to  regulate  the  motion  of  the 
engine,  Boulton  &  Watt  paid  a  royalty  to  Matthew  Wasborough,  who  had 
patented  it,  and  who  held  also  the  patent  for  its  combination  with  a  crank, 
as  invented  by  Pickard  and  Steed. 


106  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 

3.  The  double  or  coupled  steam-engine — two  engines 
capable  of  working  together,  or  independently,  as  may  be 
desired. 

4.  The  use  of  a  rack  on  the  piston-rod,  working  into  a 
sector  on  the  end  of  the  beam,  thus  securing  a  perfect  rec- 
tilinear motion  of  the  rod. 

5.  A  rotary  engine,  or  "  steam-wheel." 

The  efficiency  to  be  secured  by  the  expansion  of  steam 
had  long  been  known  to  Watt,  and  he  had  conceived  the 
idea  of  economizing  some  of  that  power,  the  waste  of  which 
was  so  plainly  indicated  by  the  violent  rushing  of  the  ex- 
haust-steam into  the  condenser,  as  early  as  1769.  This  was 
described  in  a  letter  to  Dr.  Small,  of  Birmingham,  in  May  of 
that  year.  When  experimenting  at  Kinneil,  he  had  tried 
to  determine  the  real  value  of  the  principle  by  trial  on  his 
small  engine. 

Boulton  had  also  recognized  the  importance  of  this  im- 
proved method  of  working  steam,  and  their  earlier  Soho 
engines  were,  as  Watt  said,  made  with  cylinders  "  double 
the  size  wanted,  and  cut  off  the  steam  at  half -stroke."  But, 
though  "  this  was  a  great  saving  of  steam,  so  long  as  the 
valves  remained  as  at  first,"  the  builders  were  so  constantly 
annoyed  by  alterations  of  the  valves  by  proprietors  and 
their  engineers,  that  they  finally  gave  up  that  method  of 
working,  hoping  ultimately  to  be  able  to  resume  it  when 
workmen  of  greater  intelligence  and  reliability  could  be 
found.  The  patent  was  issued  July  17,  1782. 

Watt  specified  a  cut-off  at  one-quarter  stroke  as  usually 
best. 

Watt's  explanation  of  the  method  of  economizing  by 
expansive  working,  as  given  to  Dr.  Small,1  is  worthy  of  re- 
production. He  says  :  "  I  mentioned  to  you  a  method  of 
still  doubling  the  effect  of  steam,  and  that  tolerably  easy, 
by  using  the  power  of  steam  rushing  into  a  vacuum,  at 

1  "Lives  of  Boulton  ami  Watt,"  Smiles. 


JAMES  WATT  AND   HIS  INVENTIONS.  1QT 

present  lost.  This  would  do  a  little  more  than  double  the 
effect,  but  it  would  too  much  enlarge  the  vessels  to  use  it 
all.  It  is  peculiarly  applicable  to  wheel-engines,  and  may 
supply  the  want  of  a  condenser  where  force  of  steam  is  only 
used  ;  for,  open  one  of  the  steam-valves  and  admit  steam, 
until  one-fourth  of  the  distance  between  it  and  the  next 
valve  is  filled  with  steam,  shut  the  valve,  and  the  steam 
will  continue  to  expand  and  to  pass  round  the  wheel  with  a 
diminishing  power,  ending  in  one-fourth  its  first  exertion. 
The  sum  of  this  series  you  will  find  greater  than  one-half, 
though  only  one-fourth  steam  was  used.  The  power  will 
indeed  be  unequal,  but  this  can  be  remedied  by  a  fly,  or  in 
several  other  ways." 

It  will  be  noticed  that  Watt  suggests,  above,  the  now 
well-known  non-condensing  engine.  He  had  already,  as  has 
been  seen,  described  it  in  his  patent  of  1769,  as  also  the 
rotary  engine. 

Watt  illustrates  and  explains  his  idea  very  neatly,  by 
a  sketch  similar  to  that  here  given  (Fig.  28). 

Steam,  entering  the  cylinder  at  a,  is  admitted  until  one- 
fourth  the  stroke  has  been  made,  when  the  steam-valve  is 
closed,  and  the  remainder  of  the  stroke  is  performed  with- 
out further  addition  of  steam.  The  variation  of  steam- 
pressure  is  approximately  inversely  proportional  to  the  vari- 
ation of  its  volume.  Thus,  at  half  -stroke,  the  pressure  be- 
comes one-half  that  at  which  the  steam  was  supplied  to  the 
cylinder.  At  the  end  of  the  stroke  it  has  fallen  to  one- 
fourth  the  initial  pressure.  The  pressure  is  always  nearly 
equal  to  the  product  of  the  initial  pressure  and  volume 
divided  by  the  volume  at  the  given  instant.  In  symbols, 


It  is  true  that  the  condensation  of  steam  doing  work 
changes  this  law  in  a  marked  manner  ;  but  the  condensation 
and  reevaporation  of  steam,  due  to  the  transfer  of  heat  to 


108  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 

and  from  the  metal  of  the  cylinder,  tends  to  compensate 
the  first  variation  by  a  reverse  change  of  pressure  with 
change  of  volume. 

The  sketch  shows  this  progressive  variation  of  pressure 
as  expansion  proceeds.  It  is  seen  that  the  work  done  per 
unit  of  volume  of  steam  as  taken  from  the  boiler  is  much 


FIG.  28.— Expansion  of  Steam. 

greater  than  when  working  without  expansion.  The  prod- 
uct of  the  mean  pressure  by  the  volume  of  the  cylinder  is 
less,  but  the  quotient  obtained  by  dividing  this  quantity  by 
the  volume  or  weight  of  steam  taken  from  the  boiler,  is 
much  greater  with  than  without  expansion.  For  the  case 
assumed  and  illustrated,  the  work  done  during  expansion  is 
one  and  two-fifths  times  that  done  previous  to  cutting  off 
the  steam,  and  the  work  done  per  pound  of  steam  is  2.4 
times  that  done  without  expansion. 

Were  there  no  losses  to  be  met  with  and  to  be  exagger- 
ated by  the  use  of  steam  expansively,  the  gain  would  be- 


JAMES  WATT  AND   HIS   INVENTIONS.  1Q9 

come  very  great  with  moderate  expansion,  amounting  to 
twice  the  work  done  when  "  following "  full  stroke,  when 
the  steam  is  cut  off  at  one-seventh.  The  estimated  gain  is, 
however,  never  realized.  Losses  by  friction,  by  conduction 
and  radiation  of  heat,  and  by  condensation  and  reevapora- 
tion  in  the  cylinder — of  which  losses  the  latter  are  most 
serious — after  passing  a  point  which  is  variable,  and  which 
is  determined  by  the  special  conditions  in  each  case,  aug- 
ment with  greater  rapidity  than  the  gain  by  expansion. 

In  actual  practice,  it  is  rarely  found,  except  where  spe- 
cial precautions  are  taken  to  reduce  these  losses,  that  econ- 
omy follows  expansion  to  a  greater  number  of  volumes  than 
about  one-half  the  square  root  of  the  steam-pressure  ;  i.  e., 
about  twice  for  15  or  20  pounds  pressure,  three  times  for 
about  30  pounds,  and  four  and  five  times  for  60  or  65  and 
for  100  to  125  pounds  respectively.  "Watt  very  soon  learned 
this  general  principle  ;  but  neither  he,  nor  even  many  mod- 
ern engineers,  seem  to  have  learned  that  too  great  expan- 
sion often  gives  greatly-reduced  economy. 

The  inequality  of  pressure  due  to  expansion,  to  which 
he  refers,  was  a  source  of  much  perplexity  to  Watt,  as  he 
was  for  a  long  time  convinced  that  he  must  find  some 
method  of  "  equalizing  "  the  consequent  irregular  effort  of 
the  steam  upon  the  piston.  The  several  methods  of  "  equal- 
izing the  expansive  power"  which  are  referred  to  in  the 
patent  were  attempts  to  secure  this  result.  By  one  method, 
he  shifted  the  centre  as  the  beam  vibrated,  thus  changing 
the  lengths  of  the  arms  of  that  great  lever,  to  compensate 
the  change  of  moment  consequent  upon  the  change  of  press- 
ure. He  finally  concluded  that  a  fly-wheel,  as  first  proposed 
by  Fitzgerald,  who  advised  its  use  on  Papin's  engine,  would 
be  the  best  device  on  engines  driving  a  crank,  and  trusted 
to  the  inertia  of  a  balance-weight  in  his  pumping-engines, 
or  to  the  weight  of  the  pump-rods,  and  permitted  the  piston 
to  take  its  own  speed  so  far  as  it  was  not  thus  controlled. 

The  double-acting  engine  was  a  modification  of  the  sin- 


110  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  TOE  MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 

gle-acting  engine,  and  was  very  soon  determined  upon  after 
the  successful  working  of  the  latter  had  become  assured. 

"Watt  had  covered  in  the  top  of  his  single-acting  engine, 
to  prevent  cooling  the  interior  of  the  cylinder  by  contact 
with  the  comparatively  cold  atmosphere.  When  this  had 
been  done,  there  was  but  a  single  step  required  to  convert 
the  machine  into  the  double-acting  engine.  This  alteration, 
by  which  the  steam  was  permitted  to  act  upon  the  upper 
and  the  lower  sides  of  the  piston  alternately,  had  been  pro- 
posed by  "Watt  as  early  as  1767,  and  a  drawing  of  the  en- 
gine was  laid  before  a  committee  of  the  House  of  Commons 
in  1774-'75.  By  this  simple  change  Watt  doubled  the 
power  of  his  engine.  Although  invented  much  earlier,  the 
plan  was  not  patented  until  he  was,  as  he  states,  driven  to 
take  out  the  patent  by  the  "  plagiarists  and  pirates "  who 
were  always  ready  to  profit  by  his  ingenuity.  This  form 
of  engine  is  now  almost  universally  used.  The  single-acting 
pumping-engine  remains  in  use  in  Cornwall,  and  in  a  few 
other  localities,  and  now  and  then  an  engine  is  built  for 
other  purposes,  in  which  steam  acts  only  on  one  side  of  the 
piston  ;  but  these  are  rare  exceptions  to  the  general  rule. 

The  subject  of  his  next  invention  was  not  less  interest- 
ing. The  double-cylinder  or  "  compound  "  engine  has  now, 
after  the  lapse  of  nearly  a  century,  become  an  important 
and  usual  type  of  engine.  It  is  impossible  to  determine 
precisely  to  whom  to  award  the  credit  of  its  first  concep- 
tion. Dr.  Falk,  in  1779,  had  proposed  a  double-acting  en- 
gine,  in  which  there  were  two  single-acting  cylinders,  acting 
in  opposite  directions  and  alternately  on  opposite  sides  of  a 
wheel,  with  which  a  rack  on  the  piston-rod  of  each  geared. 

Watt  claimed  that  Hornblower,  the  patentee  of  the 
"  compound  engine,"  was  an  infringer  upon  his  patents  ;  and, 
holding  the  patent  on  the  separate  condenser,  he  was  able 
to  prevent  the  engine  of  his  competitor  taking  such  form  as 
to  be  successfully  introduced.  The  Hornblower  engine  was 
soon  given  up. 


JAMES  WATT  AND   HIS   INVENTIONS.  m 

Watt  stated  that  this  form  of  engine  had  been  invented 
by  him  as  early  as  1767,  and  that  he  had  explained  its  pe- 
culiarities to  Smeaton  and  others  several  years  before  Horn- 
blower  attempted  to  use  it.  He  wrote  to  Boulton  :  "  It  is 
no  less  than  our  double-cylinder  engine,  worked  upon  our 
principle  of  expansion."  He  never  made  use  of  the  plan, 
however  ;  and  the  principal  object  sought,  apparently,  in 
patenting  this,  as  well  as  many  other  devices,  was  to  secure 
himself  against  competition. 

The  rack  and  sector  patented  at  this  time  was  soon  su- 
perseded by  the  parallel-motion  ;  and  the  last  claim,  the 
"  steam-wheel "  or  rotary  engine,  although  one  was  built  of 
considerable  size,  was  not  introduced. 

After  the  patent  of  1782  had  been  secured,  "Watt  turned 
his  attention,  when  not  too  hard-pressed  by  business,  to 
other  schemes,  and  to  experimenting  with  still  other  modi- 
fications and  applications  of  his  engine.  He  had,  as  early 
as  1777,  proposed  to  make  a  steam-hammer  for  Wilkinson's 
forge  ;  but  he  was  too  closely  engaged  with  more  important 
matters  to  take  hold  of  the  project  with  much  earnestness 
until  late  in  the  year  1782,  when,  after  some  preliminary 
trials,  he  reported,  December  13th  :  "  We  have  tried  our 
little  tilting-forge  hammer  at  Soho  with  success.  The  fol- 
lowing are  some  of  the  particulars  :  Cylinder,  15  inches  in 
diameter  ;  4  feet  stroke  ;  strokes  per  minute,  20.  The 
hammer-head,  120  pounds  weight,  rises  8  inches,  and  strikes 
240  blows  per  minute.  The  machine  goes  quite  regularly, 
and  can  be  managed  as  easily  as  a  water-mill.  It  requires 
a  very  small  quantity  of  steam — not  above  half  the  contents 
of  the  cylinder  per  stroke.  The  power  employed  is  not 
more  than  one-fourth  of  what  would  be  required  to  raise 
the  quantity  of  water  which  would  enable  a  water-wheel  to 
work  the  same  hammer  with  the  same  velocity." 

He  immediately  set  about  making  a  much  heavier 
hammer,  and  on  April  26,  1783,  he  wrote  that  he  had 
done  "a  thing  never  done  before" — making  his  hammer 


112    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 

strike  300  blows  a  minute.  This  hammer  weighed  1\  hun- 
dredweight, and  had  a  drop  of  2  feet.  The  steam-cylinder 
had  a  diameter  of  42  inches  and  6  feet  stroke  of  piston,  and 
was  calculated  to  have  sufficient  power  to  drive  four  ham- 
mers weighing  7  hundredweight  each.  The  engine  mad3 
20  strokes  per  minute,  the  hammer  giving  90  blows  in  the 
same  time. 

This  new  application  of  steam-power  proving  successful, 
"Watt  next  began  to  develop  a  series  of  minor  inventions, 
which  were  finally  secured  by  his  patent  of  April  27,  1784, 
together  with  the  steam  tilt-hammer,  and  a  steam-carriage, 
or  "  locomotive  engine." 

The  contrivance  previously  used  for  guiding  the  head  of 
the  piston-rod — the  sectors  and  chains,  or  rack — had  never 
given  satisfaction.  The  rudeness  of  design  of  the  contriv- 
ance was  only  equalled  by  its  insecurity.  Watt  therefore 
contrived  a  number  of  methods  of  accomplishing  the  pur- 
pose, the  most  beautiful  and  widely-known  of  which  is  the 
"  parallel-motion,"  although  it  has  now  been  generally  su- 
perseded by  one  of  the  other  devices  patented  at  the  same 
time — the  cross-iead  and  guides.  As  originally  proposed,  a 
rod  was  attached  to  the  head  of  the  piston-rod,  standing 
vertically  when  the  latter  was  at  quarter-stroke.  The  upper 
end  of  this  rod  was  pivoted  to  the  end  of  the  beam,  and  the 
lower  end  to  the  extremity  of  a  horizontal  rod  having  a 
length  equal  to  one-half  the  length  of  the  beam.  The  other 
end  of  the  horizontal  rod  was  coupled  to  the  frame  of  the 
engine.  As  the  piston  rose  and  fell,  the  upper  and  lower 
ends  of  the  vertical  rod  wTere  swayed  in  opposite  directions, 
and  to  an  equal  extent,  by  the  beam  and  the  lower  horizon- 
tal rod,  the  middle  point  at  which  the  piston-rod  was  at- 
tached preserving  its  position  in  the  vertical  line.  This 
form  was  objectionable,  as  the  whole  effort  of  the  engine 
was  transmitted  through  the  parallel-motion  rods.  Another 
form  is  shown  in  the  sketch  given  of  the  double-acting  en- 
gine in  Fig.  31,  which  was  free  from  this  defect.  The 


JAMES   WATT   AND   HIS   INVENTIONS.  H3 

head  of  the  piston-rod,  g,  was  guided  by  rods  connecting  it 
with  the  frame  at  c,  and  forming  a  " parallelogram," g deb, 
with  the  beam.  Many  varieties  of  "  parallel-motion  "  have 
been  devised  since  Watt's  invention  was  attached  to  his 
engines  at  Soho.  They  usually  are  more  or  less  imperfect, 
guiding  the  piston-rod  in  a  line  only  approximately  straight. 

The  cross-head  and  guides  are  now  generally  used,  very 
much  as  described  by  Watt  in  this  patent  as  his  "  second 
principle."  This  device  will  be  seen  in  the  engravings 
given  hereafter  of  more  modern  engines.  The  head  of  the 
piston-rod  is  fitted  into  a  transverse  bar,  or  cross-head, 
which  carries  properly-shaped  pieces  at  its  extremities,  to 
which  are  bolted  "  gibs,"  so  made  as  to  fit  upon  guides  se- 
cured to  the  engine-frame.  These  guides  are  adjusted  to 
precise  parallelism  with  the  centre  line  of  the  cylinder. 
The  cross-head,  sliding  in  or  on  these  guides,  moves  in  a 
perfectly  straight  line,  and,  compelling  the  piston-rod  to 
move  with  it,  the  latter  is  even  more  perfectly  guided  than 
by  a  parallel-motion.  This  arrangement,  where  properly 
proportioned,  is  not  necessarily  subject  to  great  friction, 
and  is  much  more  easily  adjusted  and  kept  in  line  than  the 
parallel-motion  when  wear  occurs  or  maladjustment  takes 
place. 

By  the  same  patent,  Watt  secured  the  now  common 
"  puppet-valve  "  with  beveled  seat,  and  the  application  of 
the  steam-engine  to  driving  rolling-mills  and  hammers  for 
forges,  and  to  "wheel-carriages  for  removing  persons  or 
goods,  or  other  matters,  from  place  to  place."  For  the  lat- 
ter purpose  he  proposes  to  use  boilers  "  of  wood,  or  of  thin 
metal,  strongly  secured  by  hoops  or  otherwise,"  and  con- 
taining "internal  fire-boxes."  He  proposed  to  use  a  con- 
denser cooled  by  currents  of  air. 

It  would  require  too  much  space  to  follow  Watt  in  all 
his  schemes  for  the  improvement  and  for  the  application  of 
the  steam-engine.  A  few  of  the  more  important  and  more 
ingenious  only  can  be  described.  Many  of  the  contracts  of 


114    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 

Boulton  &  "Watt  gave  them,  as  compensation  for  their  en- 
gines, a  fraction — usually  one-third — of  the  value  of  the 
fuel  saved  by  the  use  of  the  Watt  engine  in  place  of  the 
engine  of  Newcomen,  the  amount  due  being  paid  annually 
or  semiannually,  with  an  option  of  redemption  on  the  part 
of  the  purchaser  at  ten  years'  purchase.  This  form  of 
agreement  compelled  a  careful  determination,  often,  of  the 
work  done  and  fuel  consumed  by  both  the  engine  taken  out 
and  that  put  in  its  place.  It  was  impossible  to  rely  upon 
any  determination  by  personal  observation  of  the  number 
of  strokes  made  by  the  engine.  Watt  therefore  made  a 
"  counter,"  like  that  now  familiar  to  every  one  as  used  on 
gas-meters.  It  consists  of  a  train  of  wheels  moving  point- 
ers on  several  dials,  the  first  dial  showing  tens,  the  second 
hundreds,  the  third  thousands,  etc.,  strokes  or  revolutions. 
Motion  was  communicated  to  the  train  by  means  of  a  pen- 
dulum, the  whole  being  mounted  on  the  beam  of  the  engine, 
where  every  vibration  produced  a  swing  of  the  pendulum. 
Eight  dials  were  sometimes  used,  the  counter  being  set  and 
locked,  and  only  opened  once  a  year,  when  the  time  arrived 
for  determining  the  work  done  during  the  preceding  twelve- 
month. 

The  application  of  his  engine  to  purposes  for  which 
careful  adjustment  of  speed  was  requisite,  or  where  the  load 
was  subject  to  considerable  variation,  led  to  the  use  of  a 
controlling-valve  in  the  steam-pipe,  called  the  "throttle- 
valve,"  which  was  adjustable  by  hand,  and  permitted  the 
supply  of  steam  to  the  engine  to  be  adjusted  at  any  instant 
and  altered  to  any  desired  extent.  It  is  now  given  many 
forms,  but  it  still  is  most  usually  made  just  as  originally 
designed  by  Watt.  It  consists  of  a  circular  disk,  which 
just  closes  up  the  steam-pipe  when  set  directly  across  it,  or 
of  an  elliptical  disk,  which  closes  the  pipe  when  standing 
at  an  angle  of  somewhat  less  than  90°  with  the  line  of 
the  pipe.  This  disk  is  carried  on  a  spindle  extending 
through  the  pipe  at  one  side,  and  carrying  on  its  outer  end 


JAMES   WATT  AND   HIS   INVENTIONS.  115 

an  arm  by  means  of  which  it  may  be  turned  into  any  posi- 
tion. When  placed  with  its  face  in  line  with  the  pipe,  it 
offers  very  little  resistance  to  the  flow  of  steam  to  the  en- 
gine. When  set  in  the  other  position,  it  shuts  off  steam 
entirely  and  stops  the  engine.  It  is  placed  in  such  position 
at  any  time,  that  the  speed  of  the  engine  is  just  that  re- 
quired at  the  time.  In  the  engraving  of  the  double-acting 
engine  with  fly-wheel  (Fig.  31),  it  is  shown  at  T,  as  con- 
trolled by  the  governor. 

The  governor,   or   "fly-ball  governor,"   as   it   is   often 


FIG.  29. — The  Governor. 

distinctively  called,  was  another  of  Watt's  minor  but  very 
essential  inventions.  Two  heavy  iron  or  brass  balls,  B  J5', 
were  suspended  from  pins,  C  C',  in  a  little  cross-piece  car- 
ried on  the  head  of  a  vertical  spindle,  A  A',  driven  by  the 
engine.  The  speed  of  the  engine  varying,  that  of  the  spindle 
changed  correspondingly,  and  the  faster  the  balls  were  swung 
the  farther  they  separated.  When  the  engine's  speed  de- 
creased, the  period  of  revolution  of  the  balls  was  increased, 
and  they  fell  back  toward  the  spindle.  Whenever  the  veloc- 
ity of  the  engine  was  uniform,  the  balls  preserved  their  dis- 
tance from  the  spindle  and  remained  at  the  same  height,  their 


116    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 

altitude  being  determined  by  the  relation  existing  between 
the  force  of  gravity  and  centrifugal  force  in  the  temporary 
position  of  equilibrium.  The  distance  from  the  point  of  sus- 
pension down  to  the  level  of  the  balls  is  always  equal  to  9.78 
inches  divided  by  the  square  of  the  number  of  revolutions 

per  second — i.  e.,  h  =  9.78^-a  =  0.248—5  meters. 

The  arms  carrying  the  balls,  or  the  balls  themselves,  are 
pinned  to  rods,  MM',  which  are  connected  to  a  piece,  jy~JV, 
sliding  loosely  on  the  spindle.  A.  score,  T,  cut  in  this  piece 
engages  a  lever,  V,  and,  as  the  balls  rise  and  fall,  a  rod,  W, 
is  moved,  closing  and  opening  the  throttle-valve,  and  thus 
adjusting  the  supply  of  steam  in  such  a  way  as  to  preserve 
a  nearly  fixed  speed  of  engine.  The  connection  with  the 
throttle-valve  and  with  the  cut-off  valve-gear  is  seen  not 
only  in  the  engraving  of  the  double-acting  Watt  engine,  but 
also  in  those  of  the  Greene  and  the  Corliss  engines.  This 
contrivance  had  previously  been  used  in  regulating  water- 
wheels  and  windmills.  Watt's  invention  consisted  in  its 
application  to  the  regulation  of  the  steam-engine. 

Still  another  useful  invention  of  Watt's  was  his  "  mer- 
cury steam-gauge  " — a  barometer  in  which  the  height  of  the 
mercury  was  determined  by  the  pressure  of  the  steam  in- 
stead of  that  of  the  atmosphere.  This  simple  instrument 
consisted  merely  of  a  bent  tube  containing  a  portion  of 
mercury.  One  leg,  B  D,  of  this  U-tube  was  connected  with 
the  steam-pipe,  or  with  the  boiler  by  a  small  steam-pipe  ;  the 
other  end,  C,  was  open  to  the  atmosphere.  The  pressure  of 
the  steam  on  the  mercury  in  B  D  caused  it  to  rise  in  the 
other  "  leg  "  to  a  height  exactly  proportioned  to  the  press- 
ure, and  causing  very  nearly  two  inches  difference  of  level 
to  the  pound,  or  one  inch  to  the  pound  actual  rise  in  the 
outer  leg.  The  rude  sketch  from  Farey,  here  given  (Fig. 
30),  indicates  sufficiently  well  the  form  of  this  gauge.  It  is 
still  considered  by  engineers  the  most  reliable  of  all  forms 
of  steam-gauge.  Unfortunately,  it  is  not  conveniently  ap- 


JAMES   WATT   AND   HIS   INVENTIONS. 


117 


plicable  at  high  pressure.  The  scale,  ^1,  is  marked  with 
numbers  indicating  the  pressure,  which  numbers  are  indi- 
cated by  the  head  of  a  rod  floating  up  with  the  mercury. 

A  similar  gauge  was  used  to  determine  the  degree  of 
perfection  of  vacuum  attained  in  the  condenser,  the  mer- 
cury falling  in  the  outer  leg  as  the  vacuum  became  more 
complete.  A  perfect  vacuum  would  cause  a  depression  of 
level  in  that  leg  to  30  inches  below  the  level  of  the  mercury 
in  the  leg  connected  with  the  condenser.  In  a  more  usual 
form,  it  consisted  of  a  simple  glass  tube  having  its  lower 
end  immersed  in  a  cistern  of  mercury,  as  in  the  ordinary 
barometer,  the  top  of  the  tube  being  connected  with  a  pipe 
leading  to  the  condenser.  With  a  perfect  vacuum  in  the 
condenser,  the  mercury  would  rise  in  the  tube  very  nearly 
30  inches.  Ordinarily,  the  vacuum  is  not  nearly  perfect, 
and,  a  back  pressure  remaining  in  the  condenser  of  one  or 
two  pounds  per  square  inch,  the  atmospheric  pressure  re- 
maining unbalanced  is  only  sufficient  to  raise  the  mercury 
26  or  28  inches  above  the  level  of  the  liquid  metal  in  the 
cistern. 


ft 


Mercury  Steam-Gauge. 


Glass  Water-Gauge. 


To  determine  the  height  of  water  in  his  boiler,  Watt 
added  to  the  gauge-cocks  already  long  in  use  the  "glass 
water-gauge,"  which  is  still  seen  in  nearly  every  well-ar- 


118    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 

ranged  boiler.  This  was  a  glass  tube,  a  a'  (Fig.  30), 
mounted  on  a  standard  attached  to  the  front  of  the  boiler, 
and  at  such  a  height  that  its  middle  point  was  very  lit- 
tle below  the  proposed  water-level.  It  was  connected  by 
a  small  pipe,  r,  at  the  top  to  the  steam-space,  and  an- 
other little  pipe,  r',  led  into  the  boiler  from  its  lower  end 
below  the  water-line.  As  the  water  rose  and  fell  within 
the  boiler,  its  level  changed  correspondingly  in  the  glass. 
This  little  instrument  is  especially  liked,  because  the  posi- 
tion of  the  water  is  at  all  times  shown  to  the  eye  of  the 
attendant.  If  carefully  protected  against  sudden  changes 
of  temperature,  it  answers  perfectly  well  with  even  very 
high  pressures. 

The  engines  built  by  Boulton  &  "Watt  were  finally  fitted 
with  the  crank  and  fly-wheel  for  application  to  the  driving 
of  mills  and  machinery.  The  accompanying  engraving 
(Fig.  31)  shows  the  engine  as  thus  made,  combining  all  of 
the  essential  improvements  designed  by  its  inventor. 

In  the  engraving,  C  is  the  steam-cylinder,  P  the  piston, 
connected  to  the  beam  by  the  link,  g,  and  guided  by  the 
parallel-motion,  g  d  c.  At  the  opposite  end  of  the  beam  a 
connecting-rod,  0,  connects  with  the  crank  and  fly-wheel 
shaft.  M  is  the  rod  of  the  air-pump,  by  means  of  which 
the  condenser  is  kept  from  being  flooded  by  the  water  used 
for  condensation,  which  water-supply  is  regulated  by  an 
"  injection-handle,"  E.  A  pump-rod,  JV,  leads  down  from 
the  beam  to  the  cold-water  pump,  by  which  water  is  raised 
from  the  well  or  other  source  to  supply  the  needed  injection- 
water.  The  air-pump  rod  also  serves  as  a  "  plug-rod,"  to 
work  the  valves,  the  pins  at  ra  and  JK  striking  the  lever,  m, 
at  either  end  of  the  stroke.  When  the  piston  reaches  the 
top  of  the  cylinder,  the  lever,  m,  is  raised,  opening  the 
steam-valve,  _B,  at  the  top,  and  the  exhaust-valve,  E,  at  the 
bottom,  and  at  the  same  time  closing  the  exhaust  at  the 
top  and  the  steam  at  the  bottom.  When  the  entrance  of 
steam  at  the  top  and  the  removal  of  steam-pressure  below 


JAMES   WATT   AND   HIS   INVENTIONS. 


119 


the  piston  has  driven  the  piston  to  the  bottom,  the  pin,  J?, 
strikes  the  lever,  m,  opening  the  steam  and  closing  the 
exhaust  valve  at  the  bottom,  and  similarly  reversing  the  posi- 
tion of  the  valves  at  the  top.  The  position  of  the  valves  is 
changed  in  this  manner  with  every  reversal  of  the  motion 
of  the  piston  as  the  crank  "  turns  over  the  centre." 


Fia.  31.— Boulton  &  Watt's  Double-Acting  Engiue,  1764. 

The  earliest  engines  of  the  double-acting  kind,  and  of 
any  considerable  size,  which  were  built  to  turn  a  shaft,  were 
those  which  were  set  up  in  the  Albion  Mills,  near  Black- 
friars'  Bridge,  London,  in  1786,  and  destroyed  when  the 
mills  burned  down  in  1791.  There  were  a  pair  of  these 
engines  (shown  in  Fig.  27),  of  50  horse-power  each,  and 
geared  to  drive  20  pairs  of  stones,  making  fine  flour  and 
meal.  Previous  to  the  erection  of  this  mill  the  power 
in  all  such  establishments  had  been  derived  from  wind- 
mills and  water-wheels.  This  mill  was  erected  by  Boul- 
7 


120     THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 

ton  &  Watt,  and  capitalists  working  with  them,  not  only 
to  secure  the  profit  anticipated  from  locating  a  flour-mill 
in  the  city  of  London,  but  also  with  a  view  to  exhibit- 
ing the  capacity  of  the  new  double-acting  "  rotating  "  en- 
gine. The  plan  was  proposed  in  1783,  and  work  was  com- 
menced in  1784 ;  but  the  mill  was  not  set  in  operation  until 
the  spring  of  1786.  The  capacity  of  the  mill  was,  in  ordi- 
nary work,  16,000  bushels  of  wheat  ground  into  fine  flour 
per  week.  On  one  occasion,  the  mill  turned  out  3,000  bush- 
els in  24  hours.  In  the  construction  of  the  machinery  of 
the  mill,  many  improvements  upon  the  then  standard  prac- 
tice were  introduced,  including  cast-iron  gearing  with  care- 
fully-formed teeth  and  iron  framing.  It  was  here  that  John 
Rennie  commenced  his  work,  after  passing  through  his  ap- 
prenticeship in  Scotland,  sending  his  chief  assistant,  Ewart, 
to  superintend  the  erection  of  the  milling  machinery.  The 
mill  was  a  success  as  a  piece  of  engineering,  but  a  serious 
loss  was  incurred  by  the  capitalists  engaged  in  the  enter- 
prise, as  it  was  set  on  fire  a  few  years  afterward  and  en- 
tirely destroyed.  Boulton  and  Watt  were  the  principal 
losers,  the  former  losing  £6,000,  and  the  latter  £3,000. 

The  valve-gear  of  this  engine,  a  view  of  which  is  given 
in  Fig.  27,  was  quite  similar  to  that  used  on  the  Watt 
pumping-engine.  The  accompanying  illustration  (Fig.  32) 
represents  this  valve-motion  as  attached  to  the  Albion  Mills 
engine. 

The  steam-pipe,  abdde,  leads  the  steam  from  the  boiler 
to  the  chambers,  b  and  e.  The  exhaust-pipe,  g  g,  leads 
from  h  and  i  to  the  condenser.  In  the  sketch,  the  upper 
steam  and  the  lower  exhaust  valves,  b  and  f,  are  opened, 
and  the  steam-valve,  e,  and  exhaust-valve,  c,  are  closed,  the 
piston  being  near  the  upper  end  of  the  cylinder  and  de- 
scending. L  represents  the  plug-frame,  which  carries  tap- 
pets, 2  and  3,  which  engage  the  lever,  s,  at  either  end  of  its 
throw,  and  turn  the  shaft,  ^t,  thus  opening  and  closing  c  and 
e  simultaneously  by  means  of  the  connecting-links,  13  and 


JAMES   WATT   AND   HIS   INVENTIONS. 


121 


14.  A  similar  pair  of  tappets  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
plug-rod  move  the  valves,  b  and/,  by  means  of  the  rods,  10 
and  11,  the  arm,  r,  when  struck  by  those  tappets,  turning 
the  shaft,  t,  and  thus  moving  the  arms  to  which  those  rods 
are  attached.  Counterbalance-weights,  carried  on  the  ends 
of  the  arms,  4  and  15,  retain  the  valves  on  their  seats  when 
closed  by  the  action  of  the  tappets.  When  the  piston 
nearly  reaches  the  lower  end  of  the  cylinder,  the  tappet,  1, 


FIG.  32.— Valve-Gear  of  the  Albion  Mills  Engine. 

engages  the  arm,  r,  closing  the  steam-valve,  b,  and  the  next 
instant  shutting  the  exhaust-valve,  f.  At  the  same  time,  the 
tappet,  3,  by  moving  the  arm,  s,  downward,  opens  the  steam- 
valve,  e,  and  the  exhaust-valve,  c.  Steam  now  no  longer 
issues  from  the  steam-pipe  into  the  space,  c,  and  thence  into 
the  engine-cylinder  (not  shown  in  the  sketch)  ;  but  it  now 
enters  the  engine  through  the  valve,  e,  forcing  the  piston 


122    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 

upwards.  The  exhaust  is  simultaneously  made  to  occur  at 
the  upper  end,  the  rejected  steam  passing  from  the  engine 
into  the  space,  c,  and  thence  through  c  and  the  pipe,  g,  into 
the  condenser. 

This  kind  of  valve-gear  was  subsequently  greatly  im- 
proved by  Murdoch,  Watt's  ingenious  and  efficient  fore- 
man, but  it  is  now  entirely  superseded  on  engines  of  this 
class  by  the  eccentric,  and  the  various  forms  of  valve-gear 
driven  by  it. 

The  "  trunk-engine  "  was  still  another  of  the  almost  in- 
numerable inventions  of  Watt.  A  half -trunk  engine  is 
described  in  his  patent  of  1784,  as  shown  in  the  accompa- 
nying sketch  (Fig.  33),  in  which  A  is  the  cylinder,  B  the 


FIG.  33.— Watt's  Half-Trunk  Engine,  1784. 


piston,  and  C  its  rod,  encased  in  the  half -trunk,  D.  The 
plug-rod,  G-,  moves  the  single  pair  of  valves  by  striking  the 
catches,  E  and  F,  as  was  usual  with  Watt's  earlier  engines. 


JAMES   WATT   AND   HIS  INVENTIONS. 


123 


Watt's  steam-hammer  was  patented  at  the  same  time. 
It  is  seen  in  Fig.  34,  in  which  A  is  the  steam-cylinder  and 
B  its  rod,  the  engine  being  evidently  of  the  form  just  de- 
scribed. It  works  a  beam,  C  C,  which  in  turn,  by  the  rod, 


FIG.  34.— The  Watt  Hammer,  1784. 


M,  works  the  hammer-helve,  L  J,  and  the  hammer,  _Z/.    The 
beam,  F  Gr,  is  a  spring,  and  the  block,  JV^  the  anvil. 

Watt  found  it  impossible  to  determine  the  duty  of  his 
engines  at  all  times  by  measurement  of  the  work  itself, 
and  endeavored  to  find  a  way  of  ascertaining  the  power 
produced,  by  ascertaining  the  pressure  of  steam  within 
the  cylinder.  This  pressure  was  so  variable,  and  sub- 
ject to  such  rapid  as  well  as  extreme  fluctuations,  that 
he  found  it  impossible  to  make  use  of  the  steam-gauge 
constructed  for  use  on  the  boiler.  He  was  thus  driven  to 
invent  a  special  instrument  for  this  work,  which  he  called 
the  "steam-engine  indicator."  This  consisted  of  a  little 
steam-cylinder  containing  a  nicely-fitting  piston,  which 
moved  without  noticeable  friction  through  a  range  which 
was  limited  by  the  compression  of  a  helical  spring,  by  means 
of  which  the  piston  was  secured  to  the  top  of  its  cylinder. 
The  distance  through  which  the  piston  rose  was  propor- 
tional to  the  pressure  exerted  upon  it,  and  a  pointer  at- 
tached to  its  rod  traversed  a  scale  upon  which  the  pressure 
per  square  inch  could  be  read.  The  lower  end  of  the  in- 
strument being  connected  with  the  steam-cylinder  of  the 


124    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 

engine  by  a  small  pipe  fitted  with  a  cock,  the  opening  of 
the  latter  permitted  steam  from  the  engine-cylinder  to  fill 
the  indicator-cylinder,  and  the  pressure  of  steam  was  always 
the  same  in  both  cylinders.  The  indicator-pointer  there- 
fore traversed  the  pressure-scale,  always  exhibiting  the 
pressure  existing  at  the  instant  in  the  cylinder  of  the  engine. 
When  the  engine  was  at  rest  and  steam  off,  the  indicator- 
piston  stood  at  the  same  level  as  when  detached  from  the 
engine,  and  the  pointer  stood  at  0  on  the  scale.  When 
steam  entered,  the  piston  rose  and  fell  with  the  fluctuations 
of  pressure  ;  and  when  the  exhaust-valve  opened,  discharg- 
ing the  steam  and  producing  a  vacuum  in  the  steam-cylin- 
der, the  pointer  of  the  indicator  dropped  below  0,  showing 
the  degree  of  exhaustion.  Mr.  Southern,  one  of  Watt's 
assistants,  fitted  the  instrument  with  a  sliding  board,  moved 
horizontally  backward  and  forward  by  a  cord  or  link-work 
connecting  directly  or  indirectly  with  the  engine-beam,  and 
thus  giving  it  a  motion  coincident  with  that  of  the  piston. 
This  board  carried  a  piece  of  paper,  upon  which  a  pencil 
attached  to  the  indicator  piston-rod  drew  a  curve.  The 
vertical  height  of  any  point  on  this  curve  above  the  base- 
line measured  the  pressure  in  the  cylinder  at  the  moment 
when  it  was  made,  and  the  horizontal  distance  of  the  point 
from  either  end  of  the  diagram  determined  the  position,  at 
the  same  moment,  of  the  engine-piston.  The  curve  thus 
inscribed,  called  the  "  indicator  card,"  or  indicator  diagram, 
exhibiting  every  minute  change  in  the  pressure  of  steam  in 
the  engine,  not  only  enabled  the  mean  pressure  and  the 
power  of  the  engine  to  be  determined  by  its  measurement, 
but,  to  the  eye  of  the  expert  engineer,  it  was  a  perfectly 
legible  statement  of  the  position  of  the  valves  of  the  engine, 
and  revealed  almost  every  defect  in  the  action  of  the  engine 
which  could  not  readily  be  detected  by  external  examina- 
tion. It  has  justly  been  called  the  "  engineers'  stethoscope," 
opening  the  otherwise  inaccessible  parts  of  the  steam-engine 
to  the  inspection  of  the  engineer  even  more  satisfactorily 


JAMES   WATT  AND   HIS   INVENTIONS.  125 

than  the  stethoscope  of  the  physician  gives  him  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  condition  and  working  of  organs  contained 
within  the  human  body.  This  indispensable  and  now  fa- 
miliar engineers'  instrument  has  since  been  modified  and 
greatly  improved  in  detail. 

The  Watt  engine  had,  by  the  construction  of  the  im- 
provements described  in  the  patents  of  1782-'85,  been  given 
its  distinctive  form,  and  the  great  inventor  subsequently 
did  little  more  than  improve  it  by  altering  the  forms  and 
proportions  of  its  details.  As  thus  practically  completed, 
it  embodied  nearly  all  the  essential  features  of  the  modern 
engine ;  and,  as  we  have  seen,  the  marked  features  of  our 
latest  practice — the  use  of  the  double  cylinder  for  expan- 
sion, the  cut-off  valve-gear,  and  surface-condensation — had 
all  been  proposed,  and  to  a  limited  extent  introduced.  The 
growth  of  the  steam-engine  has  here  ceased  to  be  rapid,  and 
the  changes  which  followed  the  completion  of  the  work  of 
James  Watt  have  been  minor  improvements,  and  rarely,  if 
ever,  real  developments. 

Watt's  mind  lost  none  of  its  activity,  however,  for  many 
years.  He  devised  and  patented  a  "  smoke-consuming  fur- 
nace," in  which  he  led  the  gases  produced  on  the  introduc- 
tion of  fresh  fuel  over  the  already  incandescent  coal,  and 
thus  burned  them  completely.  He  used  two  fires,  which 
were  coaled  alternately.  Even  when  busiest,  also,  he  found 
time  to  pursue  more  purely  scientific  studies.  With  Boul- 
ton,  he  induced  a  number  of  well-known  scientific  men  liv- 
ing near  Birmingham  to  join  in  the  formation  of  a  "  Lunar 
Society,"  to  meet  monthly  at  the  houses  of  its  members,  "  at 
the  full  of  the  moon."  The  time  was  thus  fixed  in  order 
that  those  members  who  came  from  a  distance  should  be 
able  to  drive  home,  after  the  meetings,  by  moonlight. 
Many  such  societies  were  then  in  existence  in  England  ;  but 
that  at  Birmingham  was  one  of  the  largest  and  most  dis- 
tinguished of  them  all.  Boulton,  Watt,  Drs.  Small,  Dar- 
win, and  Priestley,  were  the  leaders,  and  among  their  occa- 


126    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 

sional  visitors  were  Herschel,  Smeaton,  and  Banks.  Watt 
called  these  meetings  "Philosophers'  meetings."  It  was 
during  the  period  of  most  active  discussion  at  the  "  philoso- 
phers' meetings "  that  Cavendish  and  Priestley  were  experi- 
menting with  mixtures  of  oxygen  and  hydrogen,  to  deter- 
mine the  nature  of  their  combustion.  Watt  took  much 
interest  in  the  subject,  and,  when  informed  by  Priestley 
that  he  and  Cavendish  had  both  noticed  a  deposit  of  moist- 
ure invariably  succeeding  the  explosion  of  the  mixed  gases, 
when  contained  in  a  cold  vessel,  and  that  the  weight  of  this 
water  was  approximately  equal  to  the  weight  of  the  mixed 
gases,  he  at  once  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  union  of 
hydrogen  with  oxygen  produced  water,  the  latter  being  a 
chemical  compound,  of  which  the  former  were  constituents. 
He  communicated  this  reasoning,  and  the  conclusions  to 
which  it  had  led  him,  to  Boulton,  in  a  letter  written  in  De- 
cember, 1782,  and  addressed  a  letter  some  time  afterward 
to  Priestley,  which  was  to  have  been  read  before  the  Royal 
Society  in  April,  1783.  The  letter  was  not  read,  however, 
until  a  year  later,  and,  three  months  after,  a  paper  by  Cav- 
endish, making  the  same  announcement,  had  been  laid  before 
the  Society.  Watt  stated  that  both  Cavendish  and  Lavoi- 
sier, to  whom  also  the  discovery  is  ascribed,  received  the 
idea  from  him. 

The  action  of  chlorine  in  bleaching  organic  coloring- 
matters,  by  (as  since  shown)  decomposing  them  and  com- 
bining with  their  hydrogen,  was  made  known  to  Watt  by 
M.  Berthollet,  the  distinguished  French  chemist,  and  the 
former  immediately  introduced  its  use  into  Great  Britain, 
by  inducing  his  father-in-law,  Mr.  Macgregor,  to  make  a 
trial  of  it. 

The  copartnership  of  Boulton  &  Watt  terminated  by 
limitation,  and  with  the  expiration  of  the  patents  under 
which  they  had  been  working,  in  the  first  year  of  the  present 
century  ;  and  both  partners,  now  old  and  feeble,  withdrew 
from  active  business,  leaving  their  sons  to  renew  the  agree- 


JAMES   WATT  AND   HIS  INVENTIONS.  127 

ment  and  to  carry  on  the  business  under  the  same  firm- 
style. 

Boulton,  however,  still  interested  himself  in  some 
branches  of  manufacture,  especially  in  his  mint,  where  he 
had  coined  many  years  and  for  several  nations. 

Watt  retired,  a  little  later,  to  Heathfield,  where  he 
passed  the  remainder  of  his  life  in  peaceful  enjoyment  of 
the  society  of  his  friends,  in  studies  of  all  current  matters 
of  interest  in  science,  as  well  as  in  engineering.  One  by 
one  his  old  friends  died — Black  in  1799,  Priestley,  an  exile 
to  America,  in  1803,  and  Robison  a  little  later.  Boulton 
died,  at  the  age  of  eighty-one,  August  17,  1809,  and  even 
the  loss  of  this  nearest  and  dearest  of  his  friends  outside  the 
family  was  a  less  severe  blow  than  that  of  his  son  Gregory, 
who  died  in  1804. 

Yet  the  great  engineer  and  inventor  was  not  depressed 
by  the  .loneliness  which  was  gradually  coming  upon  him. 
He  wrote :  "  I  know  that  all  men  must  die,  and  I  submit 
to  the  decrees  of  Nature,  I  hope,  with  due  reverence  to 
the  Disposer  of  events  ; "  and  neglected  no  opportunity  to 
secure  amusement  or  instruction,  and  kept  body  and  mind 
constantly  occupied.  He  still  attended  the  weekly  meet- 
ings of  the  club,  meeting  Rennie  and  Telford,  and  other 
distinguished  men  of  his  own  and  the  succeeding  genera- 
tion. He  lost  nothing  of  his  fondness  for  invention,  and 
spent  many  months  in  devising  a  machine  for  copying 
statuary,  which  he  had  not  perfected  to  his  own  satisfac- 
tion at  the  time  of  his  death,  ten  years  later.  This  ma- 
chine was  a  kind  of  pentagraph,  which  could  be  worked 
in  any  plane,  and  in  which  the  marking-pencil  gave  place 
to  a  cutting-tool.  The  tracing-point  followed  the  surface 
of  the  pattern,  while  the  cutting-point,  following  its  mo- 
tion precisely,  formed  a  fac-simile  in  the  material  operated 
upon. 

In  the  year  1800  he  invented  the  water-main  which  was 
laid  down  by  the  Glasgow  Water- Works  Company  across 


128    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 

the  Clyde.  The  joints  were  spherical  and  articulated,  like 
those  of  the  lobster's  tail. 

His  workshop,  of  which  a  sketch  is  hereafter  given,  as 
drawn  by  the  artist  Skelton,  was  in  the  garret  of  his  house, 
and  was  well  supplied  with  tools  and  all  kinds  of  laboratory 
material.  His  lathe  and  his  copying-machine  were  placed 
before  the  window,  and  his  writing-desk  in  the  corner. 
Here  he  spent  the  greater  part  of  his  leisure  time,  often 
even  taking  his  meals  in  the  little  shop,  rather  than  go  to 
the  table  for  them.  Even  when  very  old,  he  occasionally 
made  a  journey  to  London  or  Glasgow,  calling  on  his  old 
friends  and  studying  the  latest  engineering  devices  and  in- 
specting public  works,  and  was  everywhere  welcomed  by 
young  and  old  as  the  greatest  living  engineer,  or  as  the  kind 
and  wise  friend  of  earlier  days. 

He  died  August  19,  1819,  in  the  eighty-third  year  of  his 
age,  and  was  buried  in  Handsworth  Church.  The  sculptor 
Chantrey  was  employed  to  place  a  fitting  monument  above 
his  grave,  and  the  nation  erected  a  statue  of  the  great  man 
in  Westminster  Abbey. 

This  sketch  of  the  greatest  of  all  the  inventors  of  the 
steam-engine  has  been  given  no  greater  length  than  its  sub- 
ject justifies.  Whether  we  consider  Watt  as  the  inventor 
of  the  standard  steam-engine  of  the  nineteenth  century,  as 
the  scientific  investigator  of  the  physical  principles  upon 
which  the  invention  is  based,  or  as  the  builder  and  intro- 
ducer of  the  most  powerful  known  instrument  by  which  the 
"  great  sources  of  power  in  Nature  are  converted,  adapted, 
and  applied  for  the  use  and  convenience  of  man,"  he  is  fully 
entitled  to  preeminence.  His  character  as  a  man  was  no 
less  admirable  than  as  an  engineer. 

Smiles,  Watt's  most  conscientious  and  indefatigable 
biographer,  writes :  * 

"Some  months   since,  we  visited   the   little   garret   at 

1  "Life  of  Watt,"  p.  512. 


JAMES   WATT  AND   HIS  INVENTIONS. 


129 


Heathfield    in    which    Watt    pursued    the    investigations 
of  his  later  years.      The  room  had  been  carefully  locked 


up  since  his   death,  and  had   only  once  been  swept   out. 
Everything  lay  very  much  as  he  left  it.      The  piece  of 


130    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 

iron  which  he  was  last  employed  in  turning,  lay  on  the 
lathe.  The  ashes  of  the  last  fire  were  in  the  grate  ;  the  last 
bit  of  coal  was  in  the  scuttle.  The  Dutch  oven  was  in  its 
place  over  the  stove,  and  the  frying-pan  in  which  he  cooked 
his  meals  was  hanging  on  its  accustomed  nail.  Many  ob- 
jects lay  about  or  in  the  drawers,  indicating  the  pursuits 
which  had  been  interrupted  by  death — busts,  medallions, 
and  figures,  waiting  to  be  copied  by  the  copying-machine — 
many  medallion-moulds,  a  store  of  plaster-of -Paris,  and  a 
box  of  plaster  casts  from  London,  the  contents  of  which  do 
not  seem  to  have  been  disturbed.  Here  are  Watt's  ladles 
for  melting  lead,  his  foot-rule,  his  glue-pot,  his  hammer. 
Reflecting  mirrors,  an  extemporized  camera  with  the  lenses 
mounted  on  pasteboard,  and  many  camera-glasses  laid  about, 
indicate  interrupted  experiments  in  optics.  There  are  quad- 
rant-glasses, compasses,  scales,  weights,  and  sundry  boxes 
of  mathematical  instruments,  once  doubtless  highly  prized. 
In  one  place  a  model  of  the  governor,  in  another  of  the 
parallel-motion,  and  in  a  little  box,  fitted  with  wooden  cyl- 
inders mounted  with  paper  and  covered  with  figures,  is  what 
we  suppose  to  be  a  model  of  his  calculating-machine.  On 
the  shelves  are  minerals  and  chemicals  in  pots  and  jars,  on 
which  the  dust  of  nearly  half  a  century  has  settled.  The 
moist  substances  have  long  since  dried  up ;  the  putty  has 
been  turned  to  stone,  and  the  paste  to  dust.  On  one  shelf 
we  come  upon  a  dish  in  which  lies  a  withered  bunch  of 
grapes.  On  the  floor,  in  a  corner,  near  to  where  Watt  sat 
and  worked,  is  a  hair-trunk — a  touching  memorial  of  a  long- 
past  love  and  a  long-dead  sorrow.  It  contains  all  poor 
Gregory's  school-books,  his  first  attempts  at  writing,  his 
boy's  drawings  of  battles,  his  first  school-exercises  down  to 
his  college-themes,  his  delectuses,  his  grammars,  his  diction- 
aries, and  his  class-books — brought  into  this  retired  room, 
where  the  father's  eye  could  rest  upon  them.  Near  at  hand 
is  the  sculpture-machine,  on  which  he  continued  working  to 
the  last.  Its  wooden  frame  is  worm-eaten,  and  dropping 


JAMES  WATT   AND   HIS   INVENTIONS.  131 

into  dust,  like  the  hands  that  made  it.  But  though  the 
great  workman  is  gone  to  rest,  with  all  his  griefs  and  cares, 
and  his  handiwork  is  fast  crumbling  to  decay,  the  spirit  of 
his  work,  the  thought  which  he  put  into  his  inventions,  still 
survives,  and  will  probably  continue  to  influence  the  desti- 
nies of  his  race  for  all  time  to  come." 

The  visitor  to  Westminster  Abbey  will  find  neither  mon- 
arch, nor  warrior,  nor  statesman,  nor  poet,  honored  with  a 
nobler  epitaph  than  that  which  is  inscribed  on  the  pedestal 
of  Chantrey's  monument  to  Watt : 

NOT   TO  PERPETUATE   A   NAME, 
WHICH   MUST    ENDURE    WHILE   THE   PEACEFUL    ARTS   FLOURISH, 

BUT   TO    SHOW 

THAT    MANKIND   HAVE    LEARNT   TO    HONOR    THOSE   WHO   BEST    DESERVE    THEIR 
GRATITUDE, 

THE    KING, 

HIS    MINISTERS,    AND    MANY    OF   THE   NOBLES   AND    COMMONERS   OF   THE   REALM, 
RAISED   THIS   MONUMENT   TO 

JAMES    WATT, 

WHO,    DIRECTING   THE   FORCE   OF   AN   ORIGINAL   GENIUS, 

EARLY   EXERCISED   IN   PHILOSOPHIC   RESEARCH, 

TO   THE   IMPROVEMENT   OF 

THE    STEAM-ENGINE, 

ENLARGED    THE   RESOURCES   OF    HIS    COUNTRY,  INCREASED   THE   POWER   OF   MAN, 

AND   ROSE   TO   AN  EMINENT  PLACE 

AMONG    THE    MOST    ILLUSTRIOUS    FOLLOWERS    OF   SCIENCE    AND    THE    REAL 
BENEFACTORS   OF   THE   WORLD. 

BORN  AT  GREENOCK,  MDCCXXXVI. 
DIED  AT  HEATHFIELD,  IN  STAFFORDSHIRE,  MDCCCXIX. 


132    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 


Tomb  of  James  AVatt. 

SECTION  II. — THE  CONTEMPORARIES  OP  JAMES  WATT. 

In  the  chronology  of  the  steam-engine,  the  contempora- 
ries of  Watt  have  been  so  completely  overshadowed  by  the 
greater  and  more  successful  inventor,  as  to  have  been  almost 
forgotten  by  the  biographer  and  by  the  student  of  history. 
Yet,  among  the  engineers  and  engine-builders,  as  well  as 
among  the  inventors  of  his  day,  Watt  found  many  enterpris- 
ing rivals  and  keen  competitors.  Some  of  these  men,  had 
they  not  been  so  completely  fettered  by  Watt's  patents, 
would  have  probably  done  work  which  would  have  entitled 
them  to  far  higher  honor  than  has  been  accorded  them. 

WILLIAM  MURDOCH  was  one  of  the  men  to  whom  Watt, 
no  less  than  the  world,  was  greatly  indebted.  For  many  years 
he  was  the  assistant,  friend,  and  coadjutor  of  Watt ;  and  it 
is  to  his  ingenuity  that  we  are  to  give  credit  for  not  only 


THE   CONTEMPORARIES   OF  JAMES  WATT.  133 

many  independent  inventions,  but  also  for  the  suggestions 
and  improvements  which  were  often  indispensable  to  the 
formation  and  perfection  of  some  of  Watt's  own  inventions. 

Murdoch  was  employed  by  Boulton  &  Watt  in  1776, 
and  was  made  superintendent  of  construction  in  the  engine 
department,  and  given  general  charge  of  the  erection  of  en- 
gines. He  was  sent  into  Cornwall,  and  spent  in  that  district 
much  of  the  time  during  which  he  served  the  firm,  erect- 
ing pumping-engines,  the  construction  of  which  for  so 
many  years  constituted  a  large  part  of  the  business  of  the 
Soho  establishment.  He  was  looked  upon  by  both  Boulton 
and  Watt  as  a  sincere  friend,  as  well  as  a  loyal  adherent, 
and  from  1810  to  1830  was  given  a  partner's  share  of  the 
income  of  the  firm,  and  a  salary  of  £1,000.  He  retired  from 
business  at  the  last  of  the  two  dates  named,  and,  dying  in 
1839,  was  buried  near  the  two  partners  in  Hands  worth 
Church. 

Murdoch  made  a  model,  in  1784,  of  the  locomotive  pat- 
ented by  Watt  in  that  year.  He  devised  the  arrangement 
of  "  sun-and-planet  wheels,"  adopted  for  a  time  in  all  of 
Watt's  "rotative"  engines,  and  invented  the  oscillating 
steam-engine  (Fig.  36)  in  1785,  using  the  "  D-slide  valves," 
6r,  moved  by  the  gear,  E,  which  was  driven  by  an  eccentric 
on  the  shaft,  without  regard  to  the  oscillation  of  the  cyl- 
inder, A.  He  was  the  inventor  of  a  rotary  engine  and  of 
many  minor  machines  for  special  purposes,  and  of  many 
machine-tools  used  at  Soho  in  building  engines  and  ma- 
chines. He  seems,  like  Watt,  to  have  had  special  fondness 
for  the  worm-gear,  and  introduced  it  wherever  it  could 
properly  take  the  place  of  ordinary  gearing.  Some  of  the 
machines  designed  by  Watt  and  Murdoch,  who  always 
worked  well  together,  were  found  still  in  use  and  in  good 
working  condition  by  the  author  when  visiting  the  works  at 
Soho  in  1873.  The  old  mint  in  which,  from  1797  to  1805, 
Boulton  had  coined  4,000  tons  of  copper,  had  then  been 
pulled  down,  and  a  new  mint  had  been  erected  in  1860. 


134    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 

Many  old  machines  still  remained  about  the  establishment 
as  souvenirs  of  the  three  great  mechanics. 


Fid.  36.— Murdoch's  Oscillating  Engine,  1785. 

Outside  of  Soho,  Murdoch  also  found  ample  employment 
for  his  inventive  talent.  In  1792,  while  at  Redruth,  his 
residence  before  finally  returning  to  Soho,  he  was  led  to 
speculate  upon  the  possibility  of  utilizing  the  illuminating 
qualities  of  coal-gas,  and,  convinced  of  its  practicability,  he 
laid  the  subject  before  the  Royal  Society  in  1808,  and  was 
awarded  the  Rumford  gold  medal.  He  had,  ten  years  ear- 
lier, lighted  a  part  of  the  Soho  works  with  coal-gas,  and  in 
1803  Watt  authorized  him  to  extend  his  pipes  throughout 
all  the  buildings.  Several  manufacturers  promptly  intro- 
duced the  new  light,  and  its  use  extended  very  rapidly. 

Still  another  of  Murdoch's  favorite  schemes  was  the 
transmission  of  power  by  the  use  of  compressed  air.  He 
drove  the  pattern-shop  engine  at  Soho  by  means  of  air  from 
the  blowing-engine  in  the  foundery,  and  erected  a  pneumatic 
lift  to  elevate  castings  from  the  foundery -floor  to  the  canal- 


THE   CONTEMPORARIES   OF  JAMES  WATT.  135 

bank.  He  made  a  steam-gun,  introduced  the  heating  of 
buildings  by  the  circulation  of  hot  water,  and  invented  the 
method  of  transmitting  packages  through  tubes  by  the  im- 
pulse of  compressed  air,  as  now  practised  by  the  "pneu- 
matic dispatch  "  companies.  He  died  at  the  age  of  eighty- 
five  years. 

Among  the  most  active  and  formidable  of  Watt's  busi- 
ness rivals  was  JONATHAK  HORNBLOWER,  the  patentee  of 
the  "  compound. "  or  double-cylinder  engine.  A  sketch  of 
this  engine,  as  patented  by  Hornblower  in  1781,  is  here 
given  (Fig.  37).  It  was  first  described  by  the  inventor  in 
the  "  Encyclopedia  Britannica."  It  consists,  as  is  seen  by 
reference  to  the  engraving,  of  two  steam-cylinders,  A  and 
B — A  being  the  low  and  B  the  high  pressure  cylinder — the 
steam  leaving  the  latter  being  exhausted  into  the  former, 
and,  after  doing  its  work  there,  passing  into  the  condenser, 
as  already  described.  The  piston-rods,  C  and  D,  are  both 
connected  to  the  same  part  of  the  beam  by  chains,  as  in  the 
other  early  engines.  These  rods  pass  through  stuffing-boxes 
in  the  cylinder-heads,  which  are  fitted  up  like  those  seen  on 
the  Watt  engine.  Steam  is  led  to  the  engine  through  the 
pipe,  Gr  Y,  and  cocks,  a,  b,  c,  and  d,  are  adjustable,  as  re- 
quired, to  lead  steam  into  and  from  the  cylinders,  and  are 
moved  by  the  plug-rod,  W,  which  actuates  handles  not 
shown.  JTis  the  exhaust-pipe  leading  to  the  condenser.  V 
is  the  engine  feed-pump  rod,  and  X  the  great  rod  carrying 
the  pump-buckets  at  the  bottom  of  the  shaft. 

The  cocks  c  and  a  being  open  and  b  and  d  shut,  the 
steam  passes  from  the  boiler  into  the  upper  part  of  the 
steam-cylinder,  B\  and  the  communication  between  the 
lower  part  of  B  and  the  top  of  A  is  also  open.  Before 
starting,  steam  being  shut  off  from  the  engine,  the  great 
weight  of  the  pump-rod,  JT,  causes  that  end  of  the  beam  to 
preponderate,  the  pistons  standing,  as  shown,  at  the  top  of 
their  respective  steam-cylinders. 

The  engine  being  freed  from  all  air  by  opening  all  the 


136    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 

valves  and  permitting  the  steam  to  drive  it  through  the  en- 
gine and  out  of  the  condenser  through  the  "  snifting-valve," 
0,  the  valves  b  and  d  are  closed,  and  the  cock  in  the  ex- 
haust-pipe opened. 

The  steam  beneath  the  piston  of  the  large  cylinder  is 
immediately  condensed,  and  the  pressure  on  the  upper  side 


FIG.  87. — Hornblower's  .Compound  Engine,  1781. 

of  that  piston  causes  it  to  descend,  carrying  that  end  of  the 
beam  with  it,  and  raising  the  opposite  end  with  the  pump- 
rods  and  their  attachments.  At  the  same  time,  the  steam 
from  the  lower  end  of  the  small  high-pressure  cylinder  being 
let  into  the  upper  end  of  the  larger  cylinder,  the  completion 
of  the  stroke  finds  a  cylinder  full  of  steam  transferred  from 
the  one  to  the  other  with  corresponding  increase  of  volume 
and  decrease  of  pressure.  While  expanding  and  diminish- 
ing in  pressure  as  it  passes  from  the  smaller  into  the  larger 


THE   CONTEMPORARIES   OF   JAMES   WATT.  137 

cylinder,  this  charge  of  steam  gradually  resists  less  and  less 
the  pressure  of  the  steam  from  the  boiler  on  the  upper  side 
of  the  piston  of  the  small  cylinder,  B,  and  the  net  result  is 
the  movement  of  the  engine  by  pressures  exerted  on  the 
upper  sides  of  both  pistons  and  against  pressures  of  less  in- 
tensity on  the  under  sides  of  both.  The  pressures  in  the 
lower  part  of  the  small  cylinder,  in  the  upper  part  of  the 
large  cylinder,  and  in  the  communicating  passage,  are  evi- 
dently all  equal  at  any  given  time. 

"When  the  pistons  have  reached  the  bottoms  of  their  re- 
spective cylinders,  the  valves  at  the  top  of  the  small  cylin- 
der, J3,  and  at  the  bottom  of  the  large  cylinder,  A,  are 
closed,  and  the  valves  c  and  d  are  opened.  Steam  from 
the  boiler  now  enters  beneath  the  piston  of  the  small  cyl- 
inder ;  the  steam  in  the  larger  cylinder  is  exhausted  into 
the  condenser,  and  the  steam  already  in  the  small  cylinder 
passes  over  into  the  large  cylinder,  following  up  the  piston 
as  it  rises. 

Thus,  at  each  stroke  a  small  cylinder  full  of  steam  is 
taken  from  the  boiler,  and  the  same  weight,  occupying  the 
volume  of  the  larger  cylinder,  is  exhausted  into  the  con- 
denser from  the  latter  cylinder. 

Referring  to  the  method  of  operation  of  this  engine, 
Prof.  Robison  demonstrated  that  the  effect  produced  was 
the  same  as  in  "Watt's  single-cylinder  engine — a  fact  which 
is  comprehended  in  the  law  enunciated  many  years  later  by 
Rankine,  that,  "  so  far  as  the  theoretical  action  of  the  steam 
on  the  piston  is  concerned,  it  is  immaterial  whether  the 
expansion  takes  place  in  one  cylinder,  or  in  two  or  more 
cylinders."  It  was  found,  in  practice,  that  the  Hornblower 
engine  was  no  more  economical  than  the  "Watt  engine  ; 
and  that  erected  at  the  Tin  Croft  Mine,  Cornwall,  in  1792, 
did  even  less  work  with  the  same  fuel  than  the  Watt  en- 
gines. 

Hornblower  was  prosecuted  by  Boulton  &  Watt  for 
infringement.  The  suit  was  decided  against  him,  and  he 


138    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 

was  imprisoned  in  default  of  payment  of  the  royalty,  and 
fine  demanded.  He  died  a  disappointed  and  impoverished 
man.  The  plan  thus  unsuccessfully  introduced  by  Horn- 
blower  was  subsequently  modified  and  adopted  by  others 
among  the  contemporaries  of  Watt ;  and,  with  higher  steam 
and  the  use  of  the  Watt  condenser,  the  "  compound  "  grad- 
ually became  a  standard  type  of  steam-engine. 

Arthur  Woolf,  in  1804,  re-introduced  the  Hornblower  or 
Falck  engine,  with  its  two  steam-cylinders,  using  steam  of 
higher  tension.  His  first  engine  was  built  for  a  brewery  in 
London,  and  a  considerable  number  were  subsequently 
made.  Woolf  expanded  his  steam  from  six  to  nine  times, 
and  the  pumping-engines  built  from  his  plans  were  said  to 
have  raised  about  40,000,000  pounds  one  foot  high  per  bushel 
of  coals,  when  the  Watt  engine  was  raising  but  little  more 
than  30,000,000.  In  one  case,  a  duty  of  57,000,000  was 
claimed. 

The  most  successful  of  those  competitors  of  Watt  who 
endeavored  to  devise  a  peculiar  form  of  pumping-engine, 
which  should  have  the  efficiency  of  that  of  Boulton  &  Watt, 
and  the  necessary  advantage  in  first  cost,  were  WILLIAM 
BULL  and  RICHARD  TBEVITHICK.*  The  accompanying 
illustration  shows  the  design,  which  was  then  known  as 
the  "  Bull  Cornish  Engine." 

The  steam-cylinder,  «,  is  carried  on  wooden  beams,  b, 
extending  across  the  engine-house  directly  over  the  pump- 
well.  The  piston-rod,  c,  is  secured  to  the  pump-rods, 
d  d,  the  cylinder  being  inverted,  and  the  pumps,  e,  in  the 
shaft,  /,  are  thus  operated  without  the  intervention  of 
the  beam  invariably  seen  in  Watt's  engines.  A  connect- 
ing-rod, g,  attached  to  the  pump-rod  and  to  the  end  of  a 
balance-beam,  h,  operates  the  latter,  and  is  counterbalanced 
by  a  weight,  i.  The  rod,  j,  serves  both  as  a  plug-rod  and 
as  an  air-pump  connecting-rod.  A  snifting-valve,  k,  opens 

1  For  an  exceedingly  interesting  and  very  faithful  account  of  their 
work,  see  "  Life  of  Richard  Trevithick,"  by  F.  Trevithick,  London,  1872. 


THE   CONTEMPORARIES   OF  JAMES  WATT. 


139 


when  the  engine  is  blown  through,  and  relieves  the  con- 
denser and  air-pump,  I,  of  all  air.     The  rod,  m,  operates  a 


FIG.  83.— Bull's  Pumping-En^ine    1798. 


solid  air-pump  piston,  the  valves  of  the  pump  being  placed 
on  either  side  at  the  base,  instead  of  in  the  pump-bucket,  as 


140    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  MODERN  STEAM-ENGIKE. 

in  Watt's  engines.  The  condensing-water  cistern  was  a 
wooden  tank,  n.  A  jet  "  pipe-condenser,"  o,  was  used 
instead  of  a  jet  condenser  of  the  form  adopted  by  other 
makers,  and  was  supplied  with  water  through  the  cock,  p. 
The  plug-rod,  q,  as  it  rises  and  falls  with  the  pump-rods 
and  balance-beam,  operates  the  "  gear-handles,"  r  r,  and 
opens  and  closes  the  valves,  s  s,  at  the  required  points  in 
the  stroke.  The  attendant  works  these  valves  by  hand,  in 
starting,  from  the  floor,  t.  The  operation  of  the  engine 
is  similar  to  that  of  a  Watt  engine.  It  is  still  in  use, 
with  a  few  modifications  and  improvements,  and  is  a  very 
economical  and  durable  machine.  It  has  not  been  as  gen- 
erally adopted,  however,  as  it  would  probably  have  been  had 
not  the  legal  proscription  of  Watt's  patents  so  seriously  inter- 
fered with  its  introduction.  Its  simplicity  and  lightness  are 
decided  advantages,  and  its  designers  are  entitled  to  great 
credit  for  their  boldness  and  ingenuity,  as  displayed  in  their 
application  of  the  minor  devices  which  distinguish  the  en- 
gine. The  design  is  probably  to  be  credited  to  Bull  origi- 
nally ;  but  Trevithick  built  some  of  these  engines,  and  is 
supposed  to  have  greatly  improved  them  while  working 
with  Edward  Bull,  the  son  of  the  inventor,  William  Bull. 
One  of  these  engines  was  erected  by  them  at  the  Herland 
Mine,  Cornwall,  in  1798,  which  had  a  steam-cylinder 
60  inches  in  diameter,  and  was  built  on  the  plan  just  de- 
scribed. 

Another  of  the  contemporaries  of  James  Watt  was  a 
clergyman,  EDWARD  CARTWRIGHT,  the  distinguished  inven- 
tor of  the  power-loom,  and  of  the  first  machine  ever  used  in 
combing  wool,  who  revived  Watt's  plan  of  surface-conden- 
sation in  a  somewhat  modified  form.  Watt  had  made  a 
"  pipe-condenser,"  similar  in  plan  to  those  now  often  used, 
but  had  simply  immersed  it  in  a  tank  of  water,  instead  of  in 
a  constantly-flowing  stream.  Cartwright  proposed  to  use 
two  concentric  cylinders  or  spheres,  between  which  the 
steam  entered  when  exhausted  from  the  cylinder  of  the  en- 


THE   CONTEMPORARIES   OF   JAMES   WATT.  141 

gine,  and  was  condensed  by  contact  with  the  metal  surfaces. 
Cold  water  within  the  smaller  and  surrounding  the  exterior 
vessel  kept  the  metal  cold,  and  absorbed  the  heat  dis- 
charged by  the  condensing  vapor. 

Cartwright's  engine  is  best  described  in  the  Philosophi- 
cal Magazine  of  June,  1798,  from  which  the  accompanying 
sketch  is  copied. 


FIG.  89.— Cartwright's  Engine,  1798. 

The  object  of  the  inventor  is  stated  to  have  been  to 
remedy  the  defects  of  the  Watt  engine — imperfect  vacuum, 
friction,  and  complication. 

In  the  figure,  the  steam-cylinder  takes  steam  through 
the  pipe,  JB.  The  piston,  K,  has  a  rod  extending  down- 
ward to  the  smaller  pump-piston,  G,  and  upward  to  the 
cross-head,  which,  in  turn,  drives  the  cranks  above,  by 
means  of  connecting-rods.  The  shafts  thus  turned  are  con- 


142     THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 

nected  by  a  pair  of  gears,  M  L,  of  which  one  drives  a 
pinion  on  the  shaft  of  the  fly-wheel.  D  is  the  exhaust- 
pipe  leading  to  the  condenser,  F\  and  the  pump,  Cr,  re- 
moves the  air  and  water  of  condensation,  forcing  it  into 
the  hot-well,  If,  whence  it  is  returned  to  the  boiler  through 
the  pipe,  I.  A  float  in  H  adjusts  an  air-valve,  so  as  to 
keep  a  supply  of  air  in  the  chamber,  to  serve  as  a  cushion 
and  to  make  an  air-chamber  of  the  reservoir,  and  permits 
the  excess  to  escape.  The  large  tank  contains  the  water 
supplied  for  condensing  the  steam. 

The  piston,  J?,  is  made  of  metal,  and  is  packed  with 
two  sets  of  cut  metal  rings,  forced  out  against  the  sides  of 
the  cylinder  by  steel  springs,  the  rings  being  cut  at  three 
points  in  the  circumference,  and  kept  in  place  by  the  springs. 
The  arrangement  of  the  two  cranks,  with  their  shafts  and 
gears,  is  intended  to  supersede  Watt's  plan  for  securing  a 
perfectly  rectilinear  movement  of  the  head  of  the  piston- 
rod,  without  friction. 

In  the  accounts  given  of  this  engine,  great  stress  is  laid 
upon  the  supposed  important  advantage  here  offered,  by  the 
introduction  of  the  surface-condenser,  of  permitting  the  em- 
ployment of  a  working-fluid  other  than  steam — as,  for  ex- 
ample, alcohol,  which  is  too  valuable  to  be  lost.  It  was 
proposed  to  use  the  engine  in  connection  with  a  still,  and 
thus  to  effect  great  economy  by  making  the  fuel  do  double 
duty.  The  only  part  of  the  plan  which  proved  both  novel 
and  valuable  was  the  metallic  packing  and  piston,  which 
has  not  yet  been  superseded.  The  engine  itself  never  came 
into  use. 

At  this  point,  the  history  of  the  steam-engine  becomes 
the  story  of  its  applications  in  several  different  directions, 
the  most  important  of  which  are  the  raising  of  water — 
which  had  hitherto  been  its  only  application — the  locomo- 
tive-engine, the  driving  of  mill-machinery,  and  steam-navi- 
gation. 

Here  we  take  leave  of  James  Watt  and  of  his  contempo- 


THE   CONTEMPORARIES   OF  JAMES  WATT.  143 

raries,  of  the  former  of  whom  a  French  author '  says  :  "  The 
part  which  he  played  in  the  mechanical  applications  of  the 
power  of  steam  can  only  be  compared  to  that  of  Newton  in 
astronomy  and  of  Shakespeare  in  poetry."  Since  the  time 
of  Watt,  improvements  have  been  made  principally  in  mat- 
ters of  mere  detail,  and  in  the  extension  of  the  range  of 
application  of  the  steam-engine. 

1  Bataille.  "  Traite  des  Machines  a  Vapeur,"  Paris,  184 Y. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

SHE  MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 

"  THOSE  projects  which  abridge  distance  have  done  most  for  the  civiliza- 
tion and  happiness  of  our  species." — MACACLAY. 

THE    SECOND   PERIOD    OF   APPLICATION — 1800-'40. 
STEAM-LOCOMOTION   ON   RAILBOADS. 

INTRODUCTORY. — The  commencement  of  the  nineteenth 
century  found  the  modern  steam-engine  fully  developed  in 


FIG.  40.— The  First  Kailroad-C'ar,  1S25. 


all  its  principal  features,  and  fairly  at  work  in  many  depart- 
ments of  industry.  The  genius  of  Worcester,  and  Morland, 
and  Savery,  and  Desaguliers,  had,  in  the  first  period  of  the 


STEAM-LOCOMOTION  ON   RAILROADS.  145 

application  of  the  power  of  steam  to  useful  work,  effected  a 
beginning  which,  looked  upon  from  a  point  of  view  which 
exhibits  its  importance  as  the  first  step  toward  the  wonder- 
ful results  to-day  familiar  to  every  one,  appears  in  its  true 
light,  and  entitles  those  great  men  to  even  greater  honor 
than  has  been  accorded  them.  The  results  actually  accom- 
plished, however,  were  absolutely  insignificant  in  compari- 
son with  those  which  marked  the  period  of  development 
just  described.  Yet  even  the  work  of  Watt  and  of  his  con- 
temporaries was  but  a  mere  prelude  to  the  marvellous  ad- 
vances made  in  the  succeeding  period,  to  which  we  are  now 
come,  and,  in  extent  and  importance,  was  insignificant  in 
comparison  with  that  accomplished  by  their  successors  in 
the  development  of  all  mechanical  industries  by  the  appli- 
cation of  the  steam-engine  to  the  movement  of  every  kind 
of  machine. 

The  first  of  the  two  periods  of  application  saw  the  steam- 
engine  adapted  simply  to  the  elevation  of  water  and  the 
drainage  of  mines  ;  during  the  second  period  it  was  adapted 
to  every  variety  of  useful  work,  and  introduced  wherever 
the  muscular  strength  of  men  and  animals,  or  the  power  of 
wind  and  of  falling  water,  which  had  previously  been  the 
only  motors,  had  found  application.  A  history  of  the  de- 
velopment of  industries  by  the  introduction  of  steam-power 
during  this  period,  would  be  no  less  extended  and  hardly 
less  interesting  than  that  of  the  steam-engine  itself. 

The  way  had  been  fairly  opened  by  Boulton  and  Watt ; 
and  the  year  1800  saw  a  crowd  of  engineers  and  manufactur- 
ers entering  upon  it,  eager  to  reap  the  harvest  of  distinction 
and  of  pecuniary  returns  which  seemed  so  promising  to  all. 
The  last  year  of  the  eighteenth  century  was  also  the  last  of 
the  twenty-five  years  of  partnership  of  Boulton  &  Watt, 
and,  with  it,  the  patents  under  which  that  firm  had  held  the 
great  monopoly  of  steam-engine  building  expired.  The 
right  to  manufacture  the  modern  steam-engine  was  common 
to  all.  Watt  had,  at  the  commencement  of  the  new  cen- 


146  THE  MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 

tury,  retired  from  active  business-life.  Boulton  remained 
in  business  ;  but  be  was  not  tbe  inventor  of  the  new  en- 
gine, and  could  not  retain,  by  the  exercise  of  all  his  re- 
maining power,  the  privileges  previously  held  by  legal  au- 
thorization. 

The  young  Boulton  and  the  young  Watt  were  not  the 
Boulton  &  Watt  of  earlier  years  ;  and,  had  they  possessed 
all  of  the  business  talent  and  all  of  the  inventive  genius  of 
their  fathers,  they  could  not  have  retained  control  of  a  busi- 
ness which  was  now  growing  far  more  rapidly  than  the  facil- 
ities for  manufacturing  could  be  extended  in  any  single  es- 
tablishment. All  over  the  country,  and  even  on  the  Continent 
of  Europe,  and  in  America,  thousands  of  mechanics,  and 
many  men  of  mechanical  tastes  in  other  professions,  were 
familiar  with  the  principles  of  the  new  machine,  and  were 
speculating  upon  its  value  for  all  the  purposes  to  which  it 
has  since  been  applied  ;  and  a  multitude  of  enthusiastic  me- 
chanics, and  a  larger  multitude  of  visionary  and  ignorant 
schemers,  were  experimenting  with  every  imaginable  device, 
in  the  vain  hope  of  attaining  perpetual  motion,  and  other 
hardly  less  absurd  results,  by  its  modification  and  improve- 
ment. Steam-engine  building  establishments  sprang  up 
wherever  a  mechanic  had  succeeded  in  erecting  a  workshop 
and  in  acquiring  a  local  reputation  as  a  worker  in  metal, 
and  many  of  Watt's  workmen  went  out  from  Soho  to  take 
charge  of  the  work  done  in  these  shops.  Nearly  all  of  the 
great  establishments  which  are  to-day  most  noted  for  their 
extent  and  for  the  importance  and  magnitude  of  the  work 
done  in  them,  not  only  in  Great  Britain,  but  in  Europe  and 
the  United  States,  came  into  existence  during  this  second 
period  of  the  application  of  the  steam-engine  as  a  prime 
mover. 

The  new  establishments  usually  grew  out  of  older  shops 
of  a  less  pretentious  character,  and  were  managed  by  men 
who  had  been  trained  by  Watt,  or  who  had  had  a  still  more 
awakening  experience  with  those  who  vainly  strove  to  make 


STEAM-LOCOMOTION   ON   RAILROADS.  147 

up,  by  their  ingenuity  and  by  great  excellence  of  workman- 
ship, the  advantages  possessed  at  Soho  in  a  legal  monopoly 
and  greater  experience  in  the  business. 

It  was  exceedingly  difficult  to  find  expert  and  conscien- 
tious workmen,  and  machine-tools  had  not  become  as  thor- 
oughly perfected  as  had  the  steam-engine  itself.  These 
difficulties  were  gradually  overcome,  however,  and  thence- 
forward the  growth  of  the  business  was  increasingly  rapid. 

Every  important  form  of  engine  had  now  been  invented. 
Watt  had  perfected,  with  the  aid  of  Murdoch,  both  the 
pumping-engine  and  the  rotative  steam-engine  for  applica- 
tion to  mills.  He  had  invented  the  trunk  engine,  and  Mur- 
doch had  devised  the  oscillating  engine  and  the  ordinary 
slide-valve,  and  had  made  a  model  locomotive-engine,  while 
Ilornblower  had  introduced  the  compound  engine.  The 
application  of  steam  to  navigation  had  been  often  proposed, 
and  had  sometimes  been  attempted,  with  sufficient  success 
to  indicate  to  the  intelligent  observer  an  ultimate  triumph. 
It  only  remained  to  extend  the  use  of  steam  as  a  motor  into 
all  known  departments  of  industry,  and  to  effect  such  im- 
provements in  details  as  experience  should  prove  desirable. 

The  engines  of  Hero,  of  Porta,  and  of  Branca  were,  it 
will  be  remembered,  non-condensing  ;  but  the  first  plan  of  a 
non-condensing  engine  that  could  be  made  of  any  really 
practical  use  is  given  in  the  "  Theatrum  Machinarum "  of 
Leupold,  published  in  1720.  This  sketch  is  copied  in  Fig. 
41.  It  is  stated  by  Leupold  that  this  plan  was  suggested 
by  Papin.  It  consists  of  two  single-acting  cylinders,  r  s,  re- 
ceiving steam  alternately  from  the  same  steam-pipe  through 
a  "  four- way  cock,"  x,  and  exhausting  into  the  atmosphere. 
Steam  is  furnished  by  the  boiler,  a,  and  the  pistons,  c  d, 
are  alternately  raised  and  depressed,  depressing  and  raising 
the  pump-rods,  7c  I,  to  which  they  are  attached  by  the  beams, 
h  <7,  vibrating  on  the  centres,  i  i.  The  water  from  the 
pumps,  op,  is  forced  up  the  stand-pipe,  q,  and  discharged 
at  its  top.  The  alternate  action  of  the  steam-pistons  is  se- 


148 


THE   MODERN   STEAM-ENGINE. 


cured  by  turning  the  "  four-way  cock,"  x,  first  into  the  po- 
sition shown,  and  then,  at  the  completion  of  the  stroke,  into 
the  reverse  position,  by  which  change  the  steam  from  the 


FIG.  41.— Leopold's  Engine,  1720. 

boiler  is  then  led  into  the  cylinder,  s,  and  the  steam  in  r  is 
discharged  into  the  atmosphere.1 

Leupold  states  that  he  is  indebted  to  Papin  for  the  sug- 
gestion of  the  peculiar  valve  here  used.  He  also  proposed 
to  use  a  Savery  engine  without  condensation  in  raising 
water.  We  have  no  evidence  that  this  engine  was  ever 
built. 

The  first  rude  scheme  for  applying  steam  to  locomotion 
on  land  w*as  probably  that  of  Isaac  Newton,  who,  in  1680, 
proposed  the  machine  shown  in  the  accompanying  figure 
(42),  which  will  be  recognized  as  representing  the  scientific 

1    Vide  "  Theatrum  Machmarum,"  vol.  iii.,  Tab.  30. 


STEAM-LOCOMOTION   ON   RAILROADS.  149 

toy  which  is  found  in  nearly  every  collection  of  illustrative 
philosophical  apparatus.  As  described  in  the  "  Explanation 
of  the  Newtonian  Philosophy,"  it  consists  of  a  spherical 
boiler,  13,  mounted  on  a  carriage.  Steam  issuing  from  the 


FIG.  42.— Newton's  Steam-Carriage, 


pipe,  C,  seen  pointing  directly  backward,  by  its  reaction 
upon  the  carriage,  drives  the  latter  ahead.  The  driver,  sit- 
ting at  A.,  controls  the  steam  by  the  handle,  E,  and  cock, 
F.  The  fire  is  seen  at  D. 

When,  at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century,  the  steam- 
engine  had  been  so  far  perfected  that  the  possibility  of  its 
successful  application  to  locomotion  had  become  fully  and 
very  generally  recognized,  the  problem  of  adapting  it  to 
locomotion  on  land  was  attacked  by  many  inventors. 

Dr.  Robison  had,  as  far  back  as  in  1759,  proposed  it  to 
James  Watt  during  one  of  their  conferences,  at  a  time 
when  the  latter  was  even  more  ignorant  than  the  former  of 
the  principles  which  were  involved  in  the  construction  of  the 
steam-engine,  and  this  suggestion  may  have  had  some  influ- 
ence in  determining  Watt  to  pursue  his  research  ;  thus  set- 
ting in  operation  that  train  of  thoughtful  investigation  and 
experiment  which  finally  earned  for  him  his  splendid  fame. 

In  1765,  that  singular  genius,  Dr.  Erasmus  Darwin, 
whose  celebrity  was  acquired  by  speculations  in  poetry  and 
philosophy  as  well  as  in  medicine,  urged  Matthew  Boulton 
— subsequently  Watt's  partner,  and  just  then  corresponding 
with  our  own  Franklin  in  relation  to  the  use  of  steam-power 
— to  construct  a  steam-carriage,  or  "fiery  chariot,"  as  he 


150 


THE   MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 


poetically  styled  it,  and  of  which  he  sketched  a  set  of  plans. 
A  young  man  named  Edgeworth  became  interested  in 
the  scheme,  and,  in  1768,  published  a  paper  which  had  se- 
cured for  him  a  gold  medal  from  the  Society  of  Arts.  In 
this  paper  he  proposed  railroads  on  which  the  carriages 
were  to  be  drawn  by  horses,  or  by  ropes  from  steam-wind- 
ing engines. 

Nathan  Read,  of  whom  an  account  will  be  given  here- 
after, when  describing  his  attempt  to  introduce  steam-navi- 
gation, planned,  and  in  1790  obtained  a  patent  for,  a  steam- 
carriage,  of  which  the  sketch  seen  in  Fig.  43  is  copied  from 
the  rough  drawing  accompanying  his  application.  In  the 
figure,  A  A  A  A  are  the  wheels  ;  B  J3,  pinions  on  the  hubs 
of  the  rear  wheels,  which  are  driven  by  a  ratchet  arrange- 
ment on  the  racks,  G  Gr,  connected  with  the  piston-rods  ; 
C  o  is  the  boiler ;  D  D,  the  steam-pipes  carrying  steam  to 
the  steam-cylinder,  EE\  FFaxe  the  engine-frames  ;  H  is 


FIG.  43.— Read's  Steam-Carriage,  1790. 

the  "  tongue  "  or  "  pole  "  of  the  carriage,  and  is  turned  by  a 
horizontal  steering-wheel,  with  which  it  is  connected  by 
the  ropes  or  chains,  II£,  I  K\  W  W  are  the  cocks,  which 
serve  to  shut  off  steam  from  the  engine  when  necessary,  and 


STEAM-LOCOMOTION   ON  RAILROADS.  151 

to  determine  the  amount  of  steam  to  be  admitted.  The 
pipes  a  a  are  exhaust-pipes,  which  the  inventor  proposed 
to  turn  so  that  they  should  point  backward,  in  order  to  se- 
cure the  advantage  of  the  effort  of  reaction  of  the  expelled 
steam.  (!) 

Read  made  a  model  steam-carriage,  which  he  exhibited 
when  endeavoring  to  secure  assistance  in  furtherance  of  his 
schemes,  but  seems  to  have  given  more  attention  to  steam- 
navigation,  and  nothing  was  ever  accomplished  by  him  in 
this  direction. 

These  were  merely  promising  schemes,  however.  The 
first  actual  experiment  was  made,  as  is  supposed,  by  a 
French  army-officer,  NICHOLAS  JOSEPH  CUGNOT,  who  in 
1769  built  a  steam-carriage,  which  was  set  at  work  in  pres- 
ence of  the  French  Minister  of  War,  the  Duke  de  Choiseul. 
The  funds  required  by  him  were  furnished  by  the  Compte 
de  Saxe.  Encouraged  by  the  partial  success  of  the  first 
locomotive,  he,  in  1770,  constructed  a  second  (Fig.  44), 


FIG.  44.— Cugnot's  Steam-Carriage,  1770. 

which  is  still  preserved  in  the  Conservatoire  des  Arts  et 
Metiers,  Paris. 

This  machine,  when  recently  examined  by  the  author, 
was  still  in  an  excellent  state  of  preservation.  The  carriage 
and  its  machinery  are  substantially  built  and  well-finished, 
and  exceedingly  creditable  pieces  of  work  in  every  respect. 
It  surprises  the  engineer  to  find  such  evidence  of  the  high 


152  THE   MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 

character  of  the  work  of  the  mechanic  Brezin  a  century  ago. 
The  steam-cylinders  were  13  inches  in  diameter,  and  the 
engine  was  evidently  of  considerable  power.  This  locomo- 
tive was  intended  for  the  transportation  of  artillery.  It 
consists  of  two  beams  of  heavy  timber  extending  from  end 
to  end,  supported  by  two  strong  wheels  behind,  and  one  still 
heavier  but  smaller  wheel  in  front.  The  latter  carries  on 
its  rim  blocks  which  cut  into  the  soil  as  the  wheel  turns, 
and  thus  give  greater  holding  power.  The  single  wheel  is 
turned  by  two  single-acting  engines,  one  on  each  side,  sup- 
plied with  steam  by  a  boiler  (seen  in  the  sketch)  suspended 
in  front  of  the  machine.  The  connection  between  the  en- 
gines and  the  wheels  was  effected  by  means  of  pawls,  as 
first  proposed  by  Papin,  which  could  be  reversed  when  it 
was  desired  to  drive  the  machine  backward.  A  seat  is 
mounted  on  the  carnage-body  for  the  driver,  who  steers  the 
machine  by  a  train  of  gearing,  which  turns  the  whole  frame, 
carrying  the  machinery  15  or  20  degrees  either  way.  This 
locomotive  was  found  to  have  been  built  on  a  tolerably  sat- 
isfactory general  plan  ;  but  the  boiler  was  too  small,  and 
the  steering  apparatus  was  incapable  of  handling  the  car- 
riage with  promptness. 

The  death  of  one  of  Cugnot's  patrons,  and  the  exile  of 
the  other,  put  an  end  to  Cugnot's  experiments. 

Cugnot  was  a  mechanic  by  choice,  and  exhibited  great 
talent.  He  was  a  native  of  Vaud,  in  Lorraine,  where  he 
was  born  in  1725.  He  served  both  in  the  French  and  the 
German  armies.  While  under  the  Marechal  de  Saxe,  he 
constructed  his  first  steam  locomotive-engine,  which  only 
disappointed  him,  as  he  stated,  in  consequence  of  the  ineffi- 
ciency of  the  feed-pumps.  The  second  was  that  built  under 
the  authority  of  the  Minister  Choiseul,  and  cost  20,000 
livres.  Cugnot  received  from  the  French  Government  a 
pension  of  GOO  livres.  He  died  in  1804,  at  the  age  of  sev- 
enty-nine years. 

Watt,  at  a  very  early  period,  proposed  to  apply  his  own 


STEAM-LOCOMOTION   ON  RAILROADS. 


153 


engine  to  locomotion,  and  contemplated  using  either  a  non- 
condensing  engine  or  an  air-surface  condenser.  He  actually 
included  the  locomotive-engine  in  his  patent  of  1784 ;  and 
his  assistant,  Murdoch,  in  the  same  year,  made  a  working- 
model  locomotive  (Fig.  45),  which  was  capable  of  running 
at  a  rapid  rate.  This  model,  now  deposited  in  the  Patent 
Museum  at  South  Kensington,  London,  had  a  flue-boiler, 
and  its  steam-cylinder  was  three-fourths  of  an  inch  in  diam- 
eter, and  the  stroke  of  piston  2  inches.  The  driving-wheels 
were  9|  inches  diameter. 


FIG.  45.— Murdoch's  Model,  1784. 

Nothing  was,  however,  done  on  a  larger  scale  by  either 
Watt  or  Murdoch,  who  both  found  more  than  enough  to 
claim  their  attention  in  the  construction  and  introduction 
of  other  engines.  Murdoch's  model  is  said  to  have  run 
from  6  to  8  miles  an  hour,  its  little  driving-wheels  making 
from  200  to  275  revolutions  per  minute.  As  is  seen  in  the 
sketch,  this  model  was  fitted  with  the  same  form  of  engine, 
known  as  the  "  grasshopper-engine,"  which  was  used  in  the 
United  States  by  Oliver  Evans. 

"  To  Oliver  Evans,"  says  Dr.  Ernest  Alban,  the  distin- 
guished German  engineer,  "  was  it  reserved  to  show  the  true 
value  of  a  long-known  principle,  and  to  establish  thereon  a 
new  and  more  simple  method  of  applying  the  power  of 
steam — a  method  that  will  remain  an  eternal  memorial  to 


154 


THE   MODERN   STEAM-ENGINE. 


its  introducer."  Dr.  Alban  here  refers  to  the  earliest  per- 
manently successful  introduction  of  the  non-condensing 
high-pressure  steam-engine. 

OLIVER  EVANS,  one  of  the  most  ingenious  mechanics 
that  America  has  ever  produced,  was  born  at  Newport, 
Del.,  in  1755  or  1756,  the  son  of  people  in  very  humble 
circumstances. 


He  was,  in  his  youth,  apprenticed  to  a  wheelwright,  and 
soon  exhibited  great  mechanical  talent  and  a  strong  desire 
to  acquire  knowledge.  His  attention  was,  at  an  early  pe- 
riod, drawn  to  the  possible  application  of  the  power  of 
steam  to  useful  purposes  by  the  boyish  pranks  of  one  of  his 
comrades,  who,  placing  a  small  quantity  of  water  in  a  gun- 
barrel,  and  ramming  down  a  tight  wad,  put  the  barrel  in 
the  fire  of  a  blacksmith's  forge.  The  loud  report  which 


STEAM-LOCOMOTION  ON  RAILROADS.  155 

accompanied  the  expulsion  of  the  wad  was  an  evidence  to 
young  Evans  of  great  and  (as  he  supposed)  previously  un- 
discovered power. 

Subsequently  meeting  with  a  description  of  a  Newcomen 
engine,  he  at  once  noticed  that  the  elastic  force  of  confined 
steam  was  not  there  utilized.  He  then  designed  the  non- 
condensing  engine,  in  which  the  power  was  derived  exclu- 
sively from  the  tension  of  high-pressure  steam,  and  pro- 
posed its  application  to  the  propulsion  of  carriages. 

About  the  year  1780,  Evans  joined  his  brothers,  who 
were  millers  by  occupation,  and  at  once  employed  his  in- 
ventive talent  in  improving  the  details  of  mill-work,  and 
with  such  success  as  to  reduce  the  cost  of  attendance  one- 
half,  and  also  to  increase  the  fineness  of  the  flour  made.  He 
proved  himself  a  very  expert  millwright. 

In  1786  he  applied  to  the  Pennsylvania  Legislature  for 
a  patent  for  the  application  of  the  steam-engine  to  driving 
mills,  and  to  the  steam-carriage,  but  was  refused  it.  In  1800 
or  1801,  Evans,  after  consultation  with  Professor  Robert 
Patterson,  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  and  getting 
his  approval  of  the  plans,  commenced  the  construction  of  a 
steam-carriage  to  be  driven  by  a  non-condensing  engine. 
He  soon  concluded,  however,  that  it  would  be  a  better 
scheme,  pecuniarily,  to  adapt  his  engine,  which  was  novel 
in  form  and  of  small  first  cost,  to  driving  mills  ;  and  he 
accordingly  changed  his  plans,  and  built  an  engine  of  6 
inches  diameter  of  cylinder  and  18  inches  stroke  of  pis- 
ton, which  he  applied  with  perfect  success  to  driving  a  plas- 
ter-mill. 

This  engine,  which  he  called  the  "  Columbian  Engine," 
was  of  a  peculiar  form,  as  seen  in  Fig.  46.  The  beam  is  sup- 
ported at  one  end  by  a  rocking  column  ;  at  the  other,  it  is 
attached  directly  to  the  piston-rod,  while  the  crank  lies  be- 
neath the  beam,  the  connecting-rod,  1,  being  attached  to 
the  latter  at  the  extreme  end.  The  head  of  the  piston-rod  is 
compelled  to  rise  and  fall  in  a  vertical  line  by  the  "  Evans's 


156 


THE   MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 


parallelogram  " — a  kind  of  parallel-motion  very  similar  to 
one  of  those  designed  by  Watt.  In  the  sketch  (Fig.  46),  2 
is  the  crank,  3  the  valve-motion,  4  the  steam-pipe  from  the 
boiler,  JE,  5  6  7  the  feed-pipe  leading  from  the  pump,  F. 
A  is  the  boiler.  The  flame  from  the  fire  on  the  grate,  II, 
passes  under  the  boiler  between  brick  walls,  and  back 
through  a  central  flue  to  the  chimney,  I. 


FIG.  46. — Evans's  Non-condensing  Engine,  1SCO. 

Subsequently,  Evans  continued  to  extend  the  applica- 
tions of  his  engine  and  to  perfect  its  details  ;  and,  others 
following  in  his  track,  the  non-condensing  engine  is  to-day 
fulfilling  the  predictions  which  he  made  70  years  ago,  when 
he  said : 

"I  have  no  doubt  that  my  engines  will  propel  boats 
against  the  current  of  the  Mississippi,  and  wagons  on  turn- 
pike roads,  with  great  profit.  .  .  ." 

"  The  time  will  come  when  people  will  travel  in  stages 
moved  by  steam-engines  from  one  city  to  another,  almost 
as  fast  as  birds  can  fly,  15  or  20  miles  an  hour.  ...  A  car- 
riage will  start  from  "Washington  in  the  morning,  the  pas- 
sengers will  breakfast  at  Baltimore,  dine  at  Philadelphia, 
and  sup  in  New  York  the  same  day.  .  .  . 

"  Engines  will  drive  boats  10  or  12  miles  an  hour,  and 


STEAM-LOCOMOTION   ON   RAILROADS. 


157 


there  will  be  hundreds  of  steamers  running  on  the  Missis- 
sippi, as  predicted  years  ago." 1 

In  1804,  Evans  applied  one  of  his  engines  in  the  trans- 
portation of  a  large  flat-bottomed  craft,  built  on  an  order 
of  the  Board  of  Health  of  Philadelphia,  for  use  in  clearing 
some  of  the  docks  along  the  water-front  of  the  city.  Mount- 
ing it  on  wheels,  he  placed  in  it  one  of  his  5-horse  power 
engines,  and  named  the  odd  machine  (Fig.  47)  "  Oruktor 
Amphibolis."  This  steam  dredging-machine,  weighing 
about  40,000  pounds,  was  then  propelled  very  slowly  from 
the  works,  up  Market  Street,  around  to  the  Water- Works,  and 


m 


FIG.  47.-Evans's  "Oruktor  Amphibolis,"  1804. 

then  launched  into  the  Schuylkill.  The  engine  was  then 
applied  to  the  paddle-wheel  at  the  stern,  and  drove  the 
craft  down  the  river  to  its  confluence  with  the  Delaware. 

In  September  of  the  same  year,  Evans  laid  before  the 
Lancaster  Turnpike  Company  a  statement  of  the  estimated 
expenses  and  profits  of  steam-transportation  on  the  common 
road,  assuming  the  size  of  the  carriage  used  to  be  sufficient 
for  transporting  100  barrels  of  flour  50  miles  in  24  hours, 

1  Evans's  prediction  is  less  remarkable  than  that  of  Darwin,  elsewhere 
quoted. 


158  TIIE   MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 

and  placed  in  competition  with  10  wagons  drawn  by  5 
horses  each. 

In  the  sketch  above  given  of  the  "  Oruktor  Amphibo- 
lis,"  the  engine  is  seen  to  resemble  that  previously  described. 
The  wheel,  A,  is  driven  by  a  rod  depending  from  the  end 
of  a  beam,  J31 \B,  the  other  end  of  which  is  supported  at  E 
by  the  frame,  E  F  G.  The  body  of  the  machine  is  carried 
on  wheels,  K.  K,  driven  by  belts,  JfJlf,  from  the  pulley  on 
the  shaft  carrying  A.  -The  paddle-wheel  is  seen  at  W. 
Evans  had  some  time  previously  sent  Joseph  Sampson  to 
England  with  copies  of  his  plans,  and  by  him  they  were 
shown  to  Trevithick,  Vivian,  and  other  British  engineers. 

Among  other  devices,  the  now  familiar  Cornish  boiler, 
having  a  single  internal  flue,  and  the  Lancashire  boiler, 
having  a  pair  of  internal  flues,  were  planned  and  used  by 
Evans. 

At  about  the  time  that  he  was  engaged  on  his  steam 
dredging-machine,  Evans  communicated  with  Messrs.  Mc- 
Keever  &  Valcourt,  who  contracted  with  him  to  build  an 
engine  for  a  steam-vessel  to  ply  between  New  Orleans  and 
Natchez  on  the  Mississippi,  the  hull  of  the  vessel  to  be  built 
on  the  river,  and  the  machinery  to  be  sent  to  the  first- 
named  city  to  be  set  up  in  the  boat.  Financial  difficulties 
and  low  water  combined  to  prevent  the  completion  of  the 
steamer,  and  the  engine  was  set  at  work  driving  a  saw-mill, 
where,  until  the  mill  was  destroyed  by  fire,  it  sawed  lumber 
at  the  rate  of  250  feet  of  boards  per  hour. 

Evans  never  succeeded  in  accomplishing  in  America  as 
great  a  success  as  had  rewarded  Watt  in  Great  Britain  ;  but 
he  continued  to  build  steam-engines  to  the  end  of  his  life, 
April  19, 1819,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  sons-in-law,  James 
Rush  and  David  Muhlenberg. 

He  exhibited  equal  intelligence  and  ingenuity  in  perfect- 
ing the  processes  of  milling,  and  in  effecting  improvements 
in  his  own  business,  that  of  the  millwright.  When  but 
twenty-four  years  old,  he  invented  a  machine  for  making 


STEAM-LOCOMOTION   ON   RAILROADS.  159 

the  wire  teeth  used  in  cotton  and  woolen  cards,  turning 
them  out  at  the  rate  of  3,000  per  minute.  A  little  later  he 
invented  a  card-setting  machine,  which  cut  the  wire  from 
the  reel,  bent  the  teeth,  and  inserted  them.  In  milling,  he 
invented  a  whole  series  of  machines  and  attachments,  in- 
cluding the  elevator,  the  "  conveyor,"  the  "  hopper-box,"  the 
"  drill,"  and  the  "  descender,"  and  enabled  the  miller  to 
make  finer  flour,  gaining  over  20  pounds  to  the  barrel,  and 
to  do  this  at  half  the  former  cost  of  attendance.  The  in- 
troduction of  his  improvements  into  Ellicott's  mills,  near 
Baltimore,  where  325  barrels  of  flour  were  made  per  day, 
was  calculated  to  have  saved  nearly  $5,000  per  year  in  cost 
of  labor,  and  over  $30,000  by  increasing  the  production. 
He  wrote  "The  Young  Steam -Engineer's  Guide,"  and  a 
work  which  remained  standard  many  years  after  his  death, 
"The  Young  Millwright's  Guide."  Less  fortunate  than  his 
transatlantic  rival,  he  was  nevertheless  equally  deserving 
of  fame.  He  has  sometimes  been  called  "The  Watt  of 
America." 

The  application  of  steam  to  locomotion  on  the  common 
road  was  much  more  successful  in  Great  Britain  than  in  the 
United  States.  As  early  as  1T86,  William  Symmington, 
subsequently  more  successful  in  his  efforts  to  introduce 
steam  for  marine  propulsion,  assisted  by  his  father,  made  a 
working  model  of  a  steam-carriage,  which  did  not,  however, 
lead  to  important  results. 

In  1802,  Richard  Trevithick,  a  pupil  of  Murdoch's,  who 
afterward  became  well  known  in  connection  with  the  intro- 
duction of  railroads,  made  a  model  steam -carriage,  which 
was  patented  in  the  same  year.  The  model  may  still  be 
seen  in  the  Patent  Museum  at  South  Kensington.1 

In  this  engine,  high-pressure  steam  was  employed,  and 
the  condenser  was  dispensed  with.  The  boiler  was  of  the 
form  devised  by  Evans,  and  was  subsequently  generally 

1  See  "Life  of  Trevithick." 


160  THE   MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 

used  in  Cornwall,  where  it  was  called  the  "  Trevithick 
Boiler."  The  engine  had  but  one  cylinder,  and  the  piston- 
rod  drove  a  "  cross-tail,"  working  in  guides,  which  was  con- 
nected with  a  "  cross-head  "  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  shaft 
by  two  "  side-rods."  The  connecting-rod  was  attached  to 
the  cross-head  and  the  crank,  "  returning  "  toward  the  cyl- 
inder as  the  shaft  lay  between  the  latter  and  the  cross-head. 
This  was  probably  the  first  example  of  the  now  common 
"  return  connecting-rod  engine."  The  connection  between 
the  crank-shaft  and  the  wheels  of  the  carriage  was  effected 
by  gearing.  The  valve-gear  and  the  feed-pumps  were 
worked  from  the  engine-shaft.  The  inventor  proposed  to 
secure  his  wheels  against  slipping  by  projecting  bolts,  when 
necessary,  through  the  rim  of  the  wheel  into  the  ground. 
The  first  carriage  of  full  size  was  built  by  Trevithick  and 
Vivian  at  Camborne,  in  1803,  and,  after  trial,  was  taken  to 
London,  where  it  was  exhibited  to  the  public.  En  route, 
it  was  driven  by  its  own  engines  to  Plymouth,  90  miles 
from  Camborne,  and  then  shipped  by  water.  It  is  not 
known  whether  the  inventor  lost  faith  in  his  invention  ;  but 
he  very  soon  dismantled  the  machine,  sold  the  engine  and 
carriage  separately,  and  returned  to  Cornwall,  where  he 
soon  began  work  on  a  railroad-locomotive. 

In  1821,  Julius  Griffiths,  of  Brompton,  Middlesex,  Eng- 
land, patented  a  steam-carriage  for  the  transportation  of 
passengers  on  the  highway.  His  first  road-locomotive  was 
built  in  the  same  year  by  Joseph  Bramah,  one  of  the  ablest 
mechanics  of  his  time.  The  frame  of  the  carriage  carried  a 
large  double  coach-body  between  the  two  axles,  and  the 
machinery  was  mounted  over  and  behind  the  rear  axle. 
One  man  was  stationed  on  a  rear  platform,  to  manage  the 
engine  and  to  attend  to  the  fire,  and  another,  stationed  in 
front  of  the  body  of  the  coach,  handled  the  steering-wheel. 
The  boiler  was  composed  of  horizontal  water-tubes  and 
steam-tubes,  the  latter  being  so  situated  as  to  receive  heat 
from  the  furnace-gases  en  route  to  the  chimney,  and  thus  to 


STEAM-LOCOMOTION   ON  RAILROADS.  161 

act  as  a  superheater.  The  wheels  were  driven,  by  means 
of  intermediate  gearing,  by  two  steam-engines,  which,  with 
their  attachments,  were  suspended  on  helical  springs,  to 
prevent  injury  by  jars  and  shocks.  An  air-surface  con- 
denser was  used,  consisting  of  flattened  thin  metal  tubes, 
cooled  by  the  contact  of  the  external  air,  and  discharging 
the  water  of  condensation,  as  it  accumulated  within  them, 
into  a  feed-pump,  which,  in  turn,  forced  it  into  the  lowest 
row  of  tubes  in  the  boiler. 

The  boiler  did  not  prove  large  enough  for  continuous 
work  ;  but  the  carriage  was  used  experimentally,  now  and 
then,  for  a  number  of  years. 

During  the  succeeding  ten  years  the  adaptation  of  the 
steam-engine  to  land-transportation  continued  to  attract 
more  and  more  attention,  and  experimental  road-engines 
were  built  with  steadily-increasing  frequency.  The  defects 
of  these  engines  revealing  themselves  on  trial,  they  were 
one  by  one  remedied,  and  the  road-locomotive  gradually 
assumed  a  shape  which  was  mechanically  satisfactory.  Their 
final  introduction  into  general  use  seemed  at  one  time  only 
a  matter  of  time  ;  their  non-success  was  due  to  causes  over 
which  the  legislator  and  the  general  public,  and  not  the  en- 
gineer, had  control,  as  well  as  to  the  development  of  steam- 
transportation  on  a  rival  plan. 

In  1822,  David  Gordon  patented  a  road-engine,  but  it 
is  not  known  whether  it  was  ever  built.  At  about  the  same 
time,  Mr.  Goldsworthy  Gurney,  who  subsequently  took  an 
active  part  in  their  introduction,  stated,  in  his  lectures,  that 
"elementary  power  is  capable  of  being  applied  to  propel 
carriages  along  common  roads  with  great  political  advan- 
tage, and  the  floating  knowledge  of  the  day  places  the  ob- 
ject within  reach."  He  made  an  ammonia-engine — proba- 
bly the  first  ever  made — and  worked  it  so  successfully,  that 
he  made  use  of  it  in  driving  a  little  locomotive. 

Two  years  later,  Gordon  patented  a  curious  arrangement, 
which,  however,  had  been  proposed  twelve  years  earlier  by 


162  THE   MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 

Brunton,  and  was  again  proposed  afterward  by  Gurney,  and 
others.  This  consisted  in  fitting  to  the  engine  a  set  of 
jointed  legs,  imitating,  as  nearly  as  the  inventor  could  make 
them,  the  action  of  a  horse's  legs  and  feet.  Such  an  ar- 
rangement was  actually  experimented  with  until  it  was 
found  that  they  could  not  be  made  to  work  satisfactorily, 
when  it  was  also  found  that  they  were  not  needed. 

During  the  same  season,  Burstall  &  Hill  made  a  steam- 
carriage,  and  made  many  unsuccessful  attempts  to  introduce 
their  plan.  The  engine  used  was  like  that  of  Evans,  ex- 
cept that  the  steam-cylinder  was  placed  at  the  end  of  the 
beam,  and  the  crank-shaft  under  the  middle.  The  front 
and  rear  wheels  were  connected  by  a  longitudinal  shaft  and 
bevel  gearing.  The  boiler  was  found  to  have  the  usual  de- 
fect, and  would  only  supply  steam  for  a  speed  of  three  or 
four  miles  an  hour.  The  result  was  a  costly  failure.  W. 
H.  James,  of  London,  in  1824-'25,  proposed  several  devices 
for  placing  the  working  parts,  as  well  as  the  body  of  the 
carriage,  on  springs,  without  interfering  with  their  opera- 
tion, and  the  Messrs.  Seaward  patented  similar  devices. 
Samuel  Brown,  in  1826,  introduced  a  gas-engine,  in  which 
the  piston  was  driven  by  the  pressure  produced  by  the 
combustion  of  gas,  and  a  vacuum  was  secured  by  the  con- 
densation of  the  resulting  vapor.  Brown  built  a  locomotive 
which  he  propelled  by  this  engine.  He  ascended  Shooter's 
Hill,  near  London,  and  the  principal  cause  of  his  ultimate 
failure  seems  to  have  been  the  cost  of  operating  the  engine. 

From  this  date  forward,  during  several  years,  a  number 
of  inventors  and  mechanics  seem  to  have  devoted  their 
whole  time  to  this  promising  scheme.  Among  them,  Bur- 
stall  &  Hill,  Gurney,  Ogle  &  Summers,  Sir  Charles  Dance, 
and  Walter  Hancock,  were  most  successful. 

Gurney,  in  the  year  1827,  built  a  steam-carriage,  which 
he  kept  at  work  nearly  two  years  in  and  about  London,  and 
sometimes  making  long  journeys.  On  one  occasion  he  made 
the  journey  from  Meksham  to  Cranford  Bridge,  a  distance 


STEAM-LOCOMOTION   ON  RAILROADS.  163 

of  85  miles,  in  10  hours,  including  all  stops.  He  used  the 
mechanical  legs  previously  adopted  by  Brunton  and  by 
Gordon,  but  omitted  this  rude  device  in  those  engines  sub- 
sequently built. 

Gurney's  engine  of  1828  is  of  interest  to  the  engineer  as 
exhibiting  a  very  excellent  arrangement  of  machinery,  and 
as  having  one  of  the  earliest  of  "sectional  boilers."  The 
latter  was  of  peculiar  form,  and  differed  greatly  in  design 
from  the  sectional  boiler  invented  a  quarter  of  a  century 
earlier  by  John  Stevens,  in  the  United  States. 


FIG.  48.— Curacy's  Steam-Carriage. 

In  the  sketch  (Fig.  48)  this  boiler  is  seen  at  the  right. 
It  was  composed  of  bent  <  -  shaped  tubes,  a  a,  connected  to 
two  cylinders,  b  b,  the  upper  one  of  which  was  a  steam- 
chamber.  Vertical  tubes  connected  these  two  chambers, 
and  permitted  a  complete  and  regular  circulation  of  the 
water.  A  separate  reservoir,  called  a  separator,  d,  was  con- 
nected with  these  chambers  by  pipes,  as  shown.  From  the 
top  of  this  separator  a  steam-pipe,  e  e  e,  conveyed  steam  to  the 
engine-cylinders  at/.  The  cranks,  g,  on  the  rear  axle  were 
turned  by  the  engines,  and  the  eccentric,  A,  on  the  axle  drove 
the  valve-gearing  and  the  valve,  i.  The  link,  Jc  I,  being 
moved  by  a  line,  1 1,  led  from  the  driver's  seat,  the  carriage 
was  started,  stopped,  or  reversed,  by  throwing  the  upper  end 


164  THE   MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 

of  the  link  into  gear  with  the  valve-stem,  by  setting  the 
link  midway  between  its  upper  and  lower  positions,  or  by 
raising  it  until  the  lower  end,  coming  into  action  on  the 
valve-stem,  produced  a  reverse  motion  of  the  valve.  The 
pin  on  which  this  link  vibrated  is  seen  at  the  centre  of  its 
elliptical  strap.  The  throttle-valve,  oy  by  which  the  supply 
of  steam  to  the  engine  was  adjusted,  was  worked  by  the  lever, 
n.  The  exhaust-pipe,  p,  led  to  the  tank,  q,  and  the  un- 
condensed  vapor  passed  to  the  chimney,  s  s,  by  the  pipe,  r  r. 
The  force-pump,  u,  taking  feed-water  from  the  tank,  t,  sup- 
plied it  to  the  boiler  by  the  pipe,  x  x  x,  which,  en  route,  was 
coiled  up  to  form  a  "  heater  "  directly  above  the  boiler.  The 
supply  was  regulated  by  the  cock,  y.  The  attendant  had  a 
seat  at  z.  A  blast-apparatus,  1,  was  driven  by  an  indepen- 
dent engine,  2  3,  and  produced  a  forced  blast,  which  was 
led  to  the  boiler-furnace  through  the  air-duct,  5  5  ;  4  4  rep- 
resents the  steam-pipe  to  the  little  blowing-engine.  The 
steering-wheel,  6,  was  directed  by  a  lever,  7,  and  the  change 
of  direction  of  the  perch,  8,  which  turned  about  a  king-bolt 
at  9,  gave  the  desired  direction  to  the  forward  wheels  and 
to  the  carriage. 

This  seems  to  have  been  one  of  the  best  designs  brought 
out  at  that  time.  The  boiler,  built  to  carry  70  pounds,  was 
safe  and  strong,  and  was  tested  up  to  800  pounds  pressure. 
A  forced  draught  was  provided.  The  engines  were  well 
placed,  and  of  good  design.  The  valve  was  arranged  to 
work  the  steam  with  expansion  from  half -stroke.  The  feed- 
water  was  heated,  and  the  steam  slightly  superheated.  The 
boiler  here  used  has  been  since  reproduced  under  new  names 
by  later  inventors,  and  is  still  used  with  satisfactory  results. 
Modifications  of  the  "pipe-boiler"  were  made  by  several 
other  makers  of  steam-carriages  also.  Anderson  &  James 
made  their  boilers  of  lap-welded  iron  tubes  of  one  inch  in- 
ternal diameter  and  one-fifth  inch  thick,  and  claimed  for 
them  perfect  safety.  Such  tubes  should  have  sufficient 
strength  to  sustain  a  pressure  of  20,000  pounds  per  square 


STEAM-LOCOMOTION   ON   RAILROADS.  165 

inch.  If  made  of  such  good  iron  as  the  makers  claimed  to 
have  put  into  them,  "  which  worked  like  lead,"  they  would, 
as  was  also  claimed,  when  ruptured,  open  by  tearing,  and 
discharge  their  contents  without  producing  the  usual  disas- 
trous consequences  of  boiler  explosions. 

The  primary  principle  of  the  sectional  boiler  was  then 
well  understood.  The  boilers  of  Ogle  &  Summers  were 
made  up  of  pairs  of  upright  tubes,  set  one  within  the  other, 
the  intervening  space  being  filled  with  water  and  steam,  and 
the  flame  passing  through  the  inner  and  around  the  outer 
tube  of  each  pair. 

One  of  the  engines  of  Sir  James  Anderson  and  W.  H. 
James  was  built  in  1829.  It  had  two  3|-inch  steam-cylin- 
ders, driving  the  rear  wheels  independently.  In  James's 
earlier  plan  of  1824— '25,  a  pair  of  cylinders  was  attached  to 
each  of  the  two  halves  into  which  the  rear  axle  was  divided, 
and  were  arranged  to  drive  cranks  set  at  right-angles  with 
each  other.  The  later  machine  weighed  3  tons,  and  carried 
15  passengers,  on  a  rough  graveled  road  across  the  Epping 
Forest,  at  the  rate  of  from  12  to  15  miles  per  hour.  Steam 
was  carried  at  300  pounds.  Several  tubes  gave  way  in  the 
welds,  but  the  carriage  returned,  carrying  24  passengers  at 
the  rate  of  7  miles  per  hour.  On  a  later  trial,  with  new 
boilers,  the  carriage  again  made  15  miles  per  hour.  It  was, 
however,  subject  to  frequent  accidents,  and  was  finally 
withdrawn. 

WALTER  HANCOCK  was  the  most  successful  and  perse- 
vering of  all  those  who  attempted  the  introduction  of  steam 
on  the  common  road.  He  had,  in  1827,  patented  a  boiler 
of  such  peculiar  form,  that  it  deserves  description.  It  con- 
sisted of  a  collection  of  flat  chambers,  of  which  the  walls 
were  of  boiler-plate.  These  chambers  were  arranged  side 
by  side,  and  connected  laterally  by  tubes  and  stays,  and  all 
were  connected  by  short  vertical  tubes  to  a  horizontal  large 
pipe  placed  across  the  top  of  the  boiler-casing,  and  serving 
as  a  steam-drum  or  separator.  This  earliest  of  "  sheet  flue- 


166  THE  MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 

boilers  "  did  excellent  service  on  Hancock's  steam-carriages, 
where  experience  showed  that  there  was  little  or  no  danger 
of  disruptive  explosions. 

Hancock's  first  steam-carriage  was  mounted  on  three 
wheels,  the  leading- wheel  arranged  to  swivel  on  a  king-bolt, 
and  driven  by  a  pair  of  oscillating  cylinders  connected  with 
its  axle,  which  was  "  cranked  "  for  the  purpose.  The  en- 
gines turned  with  the  steering-wheel.  This  carriage  was 
by  no  means  satisfactory,  but  it  was  used  for  a  long  time, 
and  traveled  many  hundreds  of  miles  without  once  failing 
to  do  the  work  assigned  it. 

By  this  time  there  were  a  half-dozen  steam-carriages 
under  construction  for  Hancock,  for  Ogle  &  Summers,  and 
for  Sir  Charles  Dance. 

In  1831,  Hancock  placed  a  new  carriage  on  a  route  be- 
tween London  and  Stratford,  where  it  ran  regularly  for 
hire.  Dance,  in  the  same  season,  started  another  on  the 
line  between  Cheltenham  and  Gloucester,  where  it  ran  from 
February  21st  to  June  22d,  traveling  3,500  miles  and  carry- 
ing 3,000  passengers,  running  the  9  miles  in  55  minutes 
usually,  and  sometimes  in  three-quarters  of  an  hour,  and 
never  meeting  with  an  accident,  except  the  breakage  of  an 
axle  in  running  over  heaps  of  stones  which  had  been  pur- 
posely placed  on  the  road  by  enemies  of  the  new  system  of 
transportation.  Ogle  &  Summers's  carriage  attained  a 
speed,  as  testified  by  Ogle  before  a  committee  of  the  House 
of  Commons,  of  from  32  to  35  miles  an  hour,  and  on  a  ris- 
ing grade,  near  Southampton,  at  24J  miles  per  hour.  They 
carried  250  pounds  of  steam,  ran  800  miles,  and  met  with 
no  accident.  Colonel  Macerone,  in  1833,  ran  a  steam-car- 
riage of  his  own  design  from  London  to  Windsor  and  back, 
with  11  passengers,  a  distance  of  23£  miles,  in  2  hours.  Sir 
Charles  Dance,  in  the  same  year,  ran  his  carriage  16  miles 
an  hour,  and  made  long  excursions  at  the  rate  of  9  miles  an 
hour.  Still  another  experimenter,  Heaton,  ascended  Lickey 
Hill,  between  Worcester  and  Birmingham,  on  gradients  of 


STEAM-LOCOMOTION  ON   RAILROADS.  167 

one  in  eight  and  one  in  nine,  in  places  ;  this  was  considered 
one  of  the  worst  pieces  of  road  in  England.  The  carriage 
towed  a  coach  containing  20  passengers. 

Of  all  these,  and  many  others,  Hancock,  however,  had 
most  marked  success.  His  coach,  called  the  "Infant," 
which  was  set  at  work  in  February,  1831,  was,  a  year  later, 
plying  between  London  "  City  "  and  Paddington.  Another, 
called  the  "  Era,"  was  built  for  the  London  and  Greenwich 
Steam- Carriage  Company,  which  was  mechanically  a  suc- 
cess. The  company,  however,  was  financially  unsuccessful. 
In  October,  1832,  the  "  Infant "  ran  to  Brighton  from  Lon- 
don, carrying  a  party  of  11,  at  the  rate  of  9  miles  per  hour, 
ascending  Redhill  at  a  speed  of  5  miles.  They  steamed  38 
miles  the  first  day,  stopping  at  night  at  Hazledean,  and 
reached  Brighton  next  day,  running  11  miles  per  hour. 
Returning  with  15  passengers,  the  coach  ran  1  mile  in  less 
than  4  minutes,  and  made  10  miles  in  55  minutes.  A  run 
from  Stratford  to  Brighton  was  made  in  less  than  10  hours, 
at  an  average  speed  of  12  miles  an  hour  running  time,  the 
actual  running  time  being  less  than  6  hours.  The  next 
year  another  carriage,  the  "Enterprise,"  was  put  on  the 
road  to  Paddington  by  Hancock  for  another  company,  and 
ran  regularly  over  two  weeks  ;  but  this  company  was  also 
unsuccessful.  In  the  summer  of  1833  he  brought  out  still 
another  steam-coach,  the  "  Autopsy "  (Fig.  49),  which  he 
ran  to  Brighton,  and  then,  returning  to  London,  manoeuvred 
the  carnage  in  the  crowded  streets  without  difficulty  or  ac- 
cident. He  went  about  the  streets  of  London  at  all  times, 
and  without  hesitation.  The  coach  next  ran  between  Fins- 
bury  Square  and  Pentonville  regularly  for  four  weeks,  with- 
out accident  or  delay.  In  the  sketch,  a  part  of  the  side  is 
broken  away  to  show  the  machinery.  The  boiler,  A  B, 
supplies  steam  through  the  steam-pipe,  II K,  to  the  steam- 
engine,  CD,  which  is  coupled  to  the  crank-shaft,  F.  E  is 
the  feed-pump.  The  rear  axle  is  turned  by  the  endless 
chain  seen  connecting  it  with  the  engine-shaft,  and  the  rear 


168 


THE   MODERN   STEAM-ENGINE. 


wheels,  S,  are  thus  driven.  A  blower,  T,  gives  a  forced 
draught.  The  driver  sits  at  M,  steering  by  the  wheel,  N, 
which  is  coupled  to  the  larger  wheel,  P,  and  thus  turns  the 


FIG.  49.— Hancock's  "  Autopsy,"  1833. 

forward  axle  into  any  desired  position.  In  1834,  Hancock 
built  a  steam  "drag"  on  an  Austrian  order,  which,  carry- 
ing 10  persons  and  towing  a  coach  containing  6  passengers, 
was  driven  through  the  city  beyond  Islington,  making  14 
miles  an  hour  on  a  level,  and  8  miles  or  more  on  rising 
ground.  In  the  same  year  he  built  the  "  Era,"  and,  in  Au- 
gust, put  the  "Autopsy"  on  with  it,  to  make  a  steam-line 
to  Paddington.  These  coaches  ran  until  the  end  of  Novem- 
ber, carrying  4,000  passengers,  at  a  usual  rate  of  speed  of 
12  miles  per  hour.  He  then  sent  the  "Era"  to  Dublin, 
where,  on  one  occasion,  it  ran  18  miles  per  hour. 

In  1835  a  large  carriage,  the  "Erin,"  was  completed, 
which  was  intended  to  carry  20  passengers.  It  towed  three 
omnibuses  and  a  stage-coach,  with  50  passengers,  on  a  level 
road,  at  the  speed  of  10  miles  an  hour.  It  drew  an  omnibus 
with  18  passengers  through  Whitehall,  Charing  Cross,  and 
Regent  Street,  and  out  to  Brentford,  running  14  miles  an 
hour.  It  ran  also  to  Reading,  making  38  miles,  with  the 
same  load,  in  3  hours  and  8  minutes  running  time.  The 
stops  en  route  occupied  a  half-hour.  The  same  carriage 
made  75  miles  to  Marlborough  in  7^  hours  running  time, 


STEAM-LOCOMOTION   ON  RAILROADS.  169 

stopping  4£  hours  on  the  road,  in  consequence  of  having 
left  the  tender  and  supplies  behind. 

In  May,  1836,  Hancock  put  all  his  carriages  on  the  Pad- 
dington  road,  and  ran  regularly  for  over  five  months,  run- 
ning 4,200  miles  in  525  trips  to  Islington,  143  to  Padding- 
ton,  and  44  to  Stratford,  passing  through  the  city  over  200 
times.  The  carriages  averaged  5  hours  and  17  or  18  minutes 
daily  running  time.  A  light  steam-phaeton,  built  in  1838, 
for  his  own  use,  made  20  miles  an  hour,  and  was  driven 
about  the  city,  and  among  horses  and  carriages,  without 
causing  annoyance  or  danger.  Its  usual  speed  was  about 
10  miles  an  hour.  Altogether,  Hancock  built  nine  steam- 
carnages,  capable  of  carrying  116  passengers  in  addition 
to  the  regular  attendants.1 

In  December,  1833,  about  20  steam-carriages  and  trac- 
tion road-engines  were  running,  or  were  in  course  of  con- 
struction, in  and  near  London.  In  our  own  country,  the 
roughness  of  roads  discouraged  inventors  ;  and  in  Great 
Britain  even,  the  successful  introduction  of  road-locomo- 
tives, which  seemed  at  one  time  almost  an  accomplished 
fact,  finally  met  with  so  many  obstacles,  that  even  Hancock, 
the  most  ingenious,  persistent,  and  successful  constructor, 
gave  up  in  despair.  Hostile  legislation  procured  by  oppos- 
ing interests,  and  the  rapid  progress  of  steam-locomotion  on 
railroads,  caused  this  result. 

In  consequence  of  this  interruption  of  experiment,  al- 
most nothing  was  done  during  the  succeeding  quarter  of  a 
century,  and  it  is  only  within  a  few  years  that  anything  like 
a  business  success  has  been  founded  upon  the  construction 
of  road-locomotives,  although  the  scheme  seems  to  have 
been  at  no  time  entirely  given  up. 

The  opposition  of  coach-proprietors,  and  of  all  classes 
having  an  interest  in  the  old  lines  of  coaches,  was  most  de- 

1  For  a  detailed  account  of  the  progress  of  steam  on  the  highway,  see 
"  Steam  on  Common  Roads,"  etc.,  by  Young,  Ilollcy,  &  Fisher,  London, 


170  THE   MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 

termined,  and  the  feeling  evinced  by  them  was  intensely 
bitter  ;  but  the  advocates  of  the  new  system  of  transporta- 
tion were  equally  determined  and  persevering,  and,  having 
right  on  their  side,  and  the  pecuniary  advantage  of  the 
public  as  their  object,  they  would  probably  have  succeeded 
ultimately,  except  for  the  introduction  of  the  still  better 
method  of  transportation  by  rail. 

In  the  summer  of  1831,  when  the  war  between  the  two 
parties  was  at  its  height,  a  committee  of  the  British  House 
of  Commons  made  a  very  complete  investigation  of  the 
subject.  This  committee  reported  that  they  had  become 
convinced  that  "  the  substitution  of  inanimate  for  animal 
power,  in  draught  on  common  roads,  is  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant improvements  in  the  means  of  internal  communica- 
tion ever  introduced."  They  considered  its  practicability 
to  have  been  "fully  established,"  and  predicted  that  its 
introduction  would  "  take  place  more  or  less  rapidly,  in  pro- 
portion as  the  attention  of  scientific  men  shall  be  drawn,  by 
public  encouragement,  to  further  improvement."  The  suc- 
cess of  the  system  had,  as  they  stated,  been  retarded  by 
prejudice,  adverse  interests,  and  prohibitory  tolls  ;  and  the 
committee  remark  :  "  When  we  consider  that  these  trials 
have  been  made  under  the  most  unfavorable  circumstances, 
at  great  expense,  in  total  uncertainty,  without  any  of  those 
guides  which  experience  has  given  to  other  branches  of  en- 
gineering ;  that  those  engaged  in  making  them  are  per- 
sons looking  solely  to  their  own  interests,  and  not  theorists 
attempting  the  perfection  of  ingenious  models  ;  when  we 
find  them  convinced,  after  long  experience,  that  they  are 
introducing  such  a  mode  of  conveyance  as  shall  tempt  the 
public,  by  its  superior  advantages,  from  the  use  of  the 
admirable  lines  of  coaches  which  have  been  generally  estab- 
lished, it  surely  cannot  be  contended  that  the  introduction 
of  steam-carriages  on  common  roads  is,  as  yet,  an  uncertain 
experiment,  unworthy  of  legislative  attention." 

Farey,  one  of  the  most  distinguished  mechanical  cngi- 


STEAM-LOCOMOTION  ON  RAILROADS.  171 

neers  of  the  time,  testified  that  he  considered  the  practicabil- 
ity of  such  a  system  as  fully  established,  and  that  the  result 
would  be  its  general  adoption.  Gurney  had  run  his  carriage 
between  20  and  30  miles  an  hour ;  Hancock  could  sustain  a 
speed  of  10  miles  ;  Ogle  had  run  his  coach  32  to  35  miles 
an  hour,  and  ascended  a  hill  rising  1  in  6  at  the  speed  of 
24£  miles.  Summers  had  traveled  up  a  hill  having  a  gra- 
dient of  1  in  12,  with  19  passengers,  at  the  rate  of  speed  of 
15  miles  per  hour  ;  he  had  run  4£  hours  at  30  miles  an  hour. 
Farey  thought  that  steam-coaches  would  be  found  to  cost 
one-third  as  much  as  the  stage-coaches  in  use.  The  steam- 
carnages  were  reported  to  be  safer  than  those  drawn  by 
horses,  and  far  more  manageable  ;  and  the  construction  of 
boilers  adopted — the  "  sectional "  boiler,  as  it  is  now  called — 
completely  insured  against  injury  by  explosion,  and  the 
dangers  and  inconveniences  arising  from  the  frightening  of 
horses  had  proved  to  be  largely  imaginary.  The  wear  and 
tear  of  roads  were  found  to  be  less  than  with  horses,  while 
with  broad  wheel-tires  the  carriages  acted  beneficially  as 
road-rollers.  The  committee  finally  concluded  : 

"  1.  That  carriages  can  be  propelled  by  steam  on  com- 
mon roads  at  an  average  rate  of  10  miles  per  hour. 

"  2.  That  at  this  rate  they  have  conveyed  upward  of  14 
passengers. 

"3.  That  their  weight,  including  engine,  fuel,  water, 
and  attendants,  may  be  under  three  tons. 

"  4.  That  they  can  ascend  and  descend  hills  of  consider- 
able inclination  with  facility  and  safety. 

"  5.  That  they  are  perfectly  safe  for  passengers. 

"  6.  That  they  are  not  (or  need  not  be,  if  properly  con- 
structed) nuisances  to  the  public. 

"  7.  That  they  will  become  a  speedier  and  cheaper  mode 
of  conveyance  than  carriages  drawn  by  horses. 

"  8.  That,  as  they  admit  of  greater  breadth  of  tire  than 
other  carriages,  and  as  the  roads  are  not  acted  on  so  injuri- 
ously as  by  the  feet  of  horses  in  common  draught,  such  car- 


172  THE   MODERN   STEAM-ENGINE. 

riages  will  cause  less  wear  of  roads  than  coaches  drawn  by 


"  9.  That  rates  of  toll  have  been  imposed  on  steam-car- 
riages, which  would  prohibit  their  being  used  on  several 
lines  of  road,  were  such  charges  permitted  to  remain  unal- 
tered." 

THE  RAILROAD,  which  now,  by  the  adaptation  of  steam 
to  the  propulsion  of  its  carriages,  became  the  successful 
rival  of  the  system  of  transportation  of  which  an  account 
has  just  been  given,  was  not  a  new  device.  It,  like  all 
other  important  changes  of  method  and  great  inventions, 
had  been  growing  into  form  for  ages.  The  ancients  were 
accustomed  to  lay  down  blocks  of  stone  as  a  way  upon 
which  their  heavily-loaded  wagons  could  be  drawn  with  less 
resistance  than  on  the  common  road.  This  practice  was 
gradually  so  modified  as  to  result  in  the  adoption  of  the 
now  universally-practised  methods  of  paving  and  road-mak- 
ing. The  old  tracks,  bearing  the  marks  of  heavy  traffic,  are 
still  seen  in  the  streets  of  the  unearthed  city  of  Pompeii. 

In  the  early  days  of  mining  in  Great  Britain,  the  coal 
or  the  ore  was  carried  from  the  mine  to  the  vessel  in  which 
it  was  to  be  embarked  in  sacks  on  the  backs  of  horses. 
Later,  the  miners  laid  out  wagon-roads,  and  used  carts  and 
wagons  drawn  by  horses,  and  the  roads  were  paved  with 
stone  along  the  lines  traversed  by  the  wheels  of  the  vehi- 
cles. Still  later  (about  1630),  heavy  planks  or  squared  tim- 
ber took  the  place  of  the  stone,  and  were  introduced  into 
the  north  of  England  by  a  gentleman  of  the  name  of  Beau- 
mont, who  had  transferred  his  property  there  from  the 
south.  A  half  century  later,  the  system  had  become  gener- 
ally introduced.  By  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century  the 
construction  of  these  "  tram- ways  "  had  become  well-under- 
stood, and  the  economy  which  justified  the  expenditure  of 
considerable  amounts  of  money  in  making  cuts  and  in  fill- 
ing, to  bring  the  road  to  a  uniform  grade,  had  become  well- 
recognized.  Arthur  Young,  writing  at  this  time,  says  the 


STEAM-LOCOMOTION  ON   RAILROADS.  173 

coal  wagon-roads  were  "great  works,  carried  over  all  sorts 
of  inequalities  of  ground,  so  far  as  the  distance  of  nine  or 
ten  miles,"  and  that,  on  these  tram- ways  of  timber,  "  one 
horse  is  able  to  draw,  and  that  with  ease,  fifty  or  sixty 
bushels  of  coals."  The  wagon-wheels  were  of  cast-iron,  and 
made  with  grooved  rims,  which  fitted  the  rounded  tops  of 
the  wooden  rails.  But  these  wooden  rails  were  found  sub- 
ject to  rapid  decay,  and  at  Whitehaven,  in  1738,  they  were 
protected  from  wear  by  cast-iron  plates  laid  upon  them,  and 
this  improvement  rapidly  became  known  and  adopted.  A 
tram-road,  laid  down  at  Sheffield  for  the  Duke  of  Norfolk, 
in  1776,  was  made  by  laying  angle-bars  of  cast-iron  on  lon- 
gitudinal sleepers  of  timber  ;  another,  built  by  William 
Jessup  in  Leicestershire,  in  1789,  had  an  edge-rail,  and  the 
wheels  were  made  with  flanges,  like  those  used  to-day.  The 
coned  "  tread  "  of  the  wheel,  which  prevents  wear  of  flanges 
and  reduces  resistance,  was  the  invention  of  James  Wright, 
of  Columbia,  Pa.,  40  years  later.  The  modern  railroad  was 
simply  the  result  of  this  gradual  improvement  of  the  perma- 
nent Avay,  and  the  adaptation  of  the  steam-engine  to  the 
propulsion  of  its  wagons. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century,  therefore, 
the  steam-engine  had  been  given  a  form  which  permitted 
its  use,  and  the  railroad  had  been  so  far  perfected  that  there 
were  no  difficulties  to  be  anticipated  in  the  construction  of 
the  permanent  way,  and  inventors  were  gradually  prepar- 
ing, as  has  been  seen,  to  combine  these  two  principal  ele- 
ments into  one  system.  Railroads  had  been  introduced  in 
all  parts  of  Great  Britain,  some  of  them  of  considerable 
length,  and  involving  the  interests  of  so  many  private  indi- 
viduals that  they  were  necessarily  constructed  under  the 
authorization  of  legal  enactments.  In  the  year  1805  the 
Merstham  Railway  was  opened  to  traffic,  and  it  is  stated 
that  on  that  occasion  one  horse  drew  a  train  of  12  wagons, 
carrying  38  tons  of  stone,  on  a  "  down  gradient "  of  1  in  120, 
at  the  rate  of  6  miles  per  hour. 


174 


THE  MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 


RICHAKD  TEEVITHICK  was  the  first  engineer  to  apply 
steam-power  to  the  haulage  of  loads  on  the  railroad.  Trev- 
ithick  was  a  Cornishman  by  birth,  a  native  of  Redruth. 
He  was  naturally  a  skillful  mechanic,  and  was  placed  by  his 
father  with  \Yatt's  assistant,  Murdoch,  who  was  superin- 
tending the  erection  of  pumping-engines  in  Cornwall ;  and 
from  that  ingenious  and  accomplished  engineer  young  Trev- 


Richard  Trevithick. 

ithick  probably  acquired  both  the  skill  and  the  knowledge 
which,  with  his  native  talent,  enterprise,  and  industry,  ena- 
bled him  to  accomplish  the  work  which  has  made  him  famous. 
He  was  soon  intrusted  with  the  erection  and  management 
of  large  pumping-engines,  and  subsequently  went  into  the 
business  of  constructing  steam-engines  with  another  en- 
gineer, Edward  Bull,  who  took  an  active  part,  with  the 


STEAM-LOCOMOTION   ON   RAILROADS. 


175 


Hornblowers  and  others,  in  opposing  the  Boulton  &  Watt 
patents.  The  termination  of  the  suits  which  established  the 
validity  of  Watt's  patent  put  an  end  to  their  business,  and 
Trevithick  looked  about  for  other  work,  and,  not  long 
after,  entered  into  partnership  with  a  relative,  Andrew- 
Vivian,  who  was  also  a  skillful  mechanic  ;  they  together  de- 
signed and  patented  the  steam-carriage  already  referred  to. 
Its  success  was  sufficiently  satisfactory  to  awaken  strong 
confidence  of  a  perfect  success  on  the  now  common  tram- 
roads  ;  and  Trevithick,  in  February,  1804,  had  completed  a 


L 


FIG.  50.-Trevithick's  Locomotive,  1804. 

"  locomotive  "  engine  to  work  on  the  Welsh  Pen-y-darran 
road.  This  engine  (Fig.  50)  had  a  cylindrical  flue-boiler, 
A,  like  that  designed  by  Oliver  Evans,  and  a  single  steam- 
cylinder,  JB,  set  vertically  into  the  steam-space  of  the  boiler, 


176  THE   MODERN   STEAM-ENGINE. 

and  driving  the  outside  cranks,  L,  on  the  rear  axle  of  the 
engine  by  very  long  connecting-rods,  D,  attached  to  its 
cross-head  at  E.  The  guide-bars,  JT,  were  stayed  by  braces 
leading  to  the  opposite  end  of  the  boiler.  No  attempt 
was  made  to  condense  the  exhaust-steam,  which  was  dis- 
charged into  the  smoke-pipe.  The  pressure  of  steam 
adopted  was  40  pounds  per  square  inch  ;  but  Trevithick 
had  already  made  a  number  of  non-condensing  engines  on 
which  he  carried  from  50  to  145  pounds  pressure. 

In  the  year  1808,  Trevithick  built  a  railroad  in  London, 
on  what  was  known  later  as  Torrington  Square,  or  Euston 
Square,  and  set  at  work  a  steam-carriage,  which  he  called 
"  Catch-me-who-can."  This  was  a  very  plain  and  simple 
machine.  The  steam-cylinder  was  set  vertically  in  the 
after-end  of  the  boiler,  and  the  cross-head  was  connected  to 
two  rods,  one  on  either  side,  driving  the  hind  pair  of  wheels. 
The  exhaust-steam  entered  the  chimney,  aiding  the  draught. 
This  engine,  weighing  about  10  tons,  made  from  12  to  15 
miles  an  hour  on  the  circular  railway  in  London,  and  was 
said  by  its  builder  to  be  capable  of  making  20  miles  an  hour. 
The  engine  was  finally  thrown  from  the  track,  after  some 
weeks  of  work,  by  the  breaking  of  a  rail,  and,  Trevithick's 
funds  having  been  expended,  it  was  never  replaced.  This 
engine  had  a  steam-cylinder  14£  inches  in  diameter,  and  a 
stroke  of  piston  of  4  feet.  Trevithick  used  no  device  to  aid 
the  friction  of  the  wheels  on  the  rails  in  giving  pulling- 
power,  and  seems  to  have  understood  that  none  was  needed. 
This  plan  of  working  a  locomotive-engine  without  such 
complications  as  had  been  proposed  by  other  engineers  was, 
however,  subsequently  patented,  in  1813,  by  Blackett  & 
Hedley.  The  latter  was  at  one  time  Trevithick's  agent, 
and  was  director  of  Wylam  Colliery,  of  which  Mr.  Blackett 
was  proprietor. 

Trevithick  applied  his  high-pressure  non-conducting  en- 
gine not  only  to  locomotives,  but  to  every  purpose  that  op- 
portunity offered  him.  He  put  one  into  the  Tredegar  Iron- 


STEAM-LOCOMOTION   ON   RAILROADS.  177 

"Works,  to  drive  the  puddle-train,  in  1801.  This  engine  had 
a  steam-cylinder  28  inches  in  diameter,  and  6  feet  stroke  of 
piston  ;  a  boiler  of  cast-iron,  6f  feet  in  diameter  and  20  feet 
long,  with  a  wrought-iron  internal  tube,  3  feet  in  diameter 
at  the  furnace-end  and  24  inches  beyond  the  furnace.  The 
steam-pressure  ranged  from  50  to  100  pounds  per  square 
inch.  The  valve  was  a  four-way  cock.  The  exhaust-steam 
was  carried  into  the  chimney,  passing  through  a  feed-water 
heater  en  route.  This  engine  was  taken  down  in  1856.1 

In  1803,  Trevithick  applied  his  engine  to  driving  rock- 
drills,  and  three  years  later  made  a  large  contract  with  the 
Trinity  Board  for  dredging  in  the  Thames,  and  constructed 
steam  dredging-machines  for  the  work,  of  the  form  which 
is  still  most  generally  used  in  Great  Britain,  although  rarely 
seen  in  the  United  States — the  "  chain-and-bucket  dredger." 

A  little  later,  Trevithick  was  engaged  upon  the  first  and 
unsuccessful  attempt  to  carry  a  tunnel  under  the  Thames,  at 
London  ;  but  no  sooner  had  that  costly  scheme  been  given 
up,  than  he  returned  to  his  favorite  pursuits,  and  continued 
his  work  on  interrupted  schemes  for  ship-propulsion.  Trevi- 
thick at  last  left  England,  spent  some  years  in  South  Amer- 
ica, and  finally  returned  home  and  died  in  extreme  pov- 
erty, April,  1833,  at  the  age  of  sixty -two,  without  having 
succeeded  in  accomplishing  the  general  introduction  of  any 
of  his  inventions. 

Trevithick  was  characteristically  an  inventor  of  the  typi- 
cal sort.  He  invented  many  valuable  devices,  but  brought 
but  few  into  even  experimental  use,  and  reaped  little  advan- 
tage from  any  of  them.  He  was  ingenious,  a  thorough  me- 
chanic, bold,  active,  and  indefatigable  ;  but  his  lack  of  per- 
sistence made  his  whole  life,  as  Smiles  has  said,  "but  a 
series  of  beginnings." 

It  is  at  about  this  period  that  we  find  evidence  of  the 
intelligent  labors  of  another  of  our  own  countrymen — one 

1  "Life  of  TicvitLick." 


178 


THE   MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 


who,  in  consequence  of  the  unobtrusive  manner  in  which 
his  work  was  done,  has  never  received  the  full  credit  to 
which  he  is  entitled. 

COLONEL  JOHN  STEVENS,  of  Hoboken,  as  he  is  generally 
called,  was  born  in  the  city  of  New  York,  in  1749  ;  but 
throughout  his  business-life  he  was  a  resident  of  New  Jer- 
sey. 

His  attention  is  said  to  have  been  first  called  to  the  ap- 
plication of  steam-power  by  seeing  the  experiments  of  John 
Fitch  with  his  steamer  on  the  Delaware,  and  he  at  once  de- 


Colonel  John  Stevens. 


voted  himself  to  the  introduction  of  steam-navigation  with 
characteristic  energy,  and  with  a  success  that  will  be  indi- 
cated when  we  come  to  the  consideration  of  that  subject. 
But  this  far-sighted  engineer  and  statesman  saw  plainly 


STEAM-LOCOMOTION   ON   RAILROADS.  179 

the  importance  of  applying  the  steam-engine  to  land-trans- 
portation as  well  as  to  navigation  ;  and  not  only  that,  but 
he  saw  with  equal  distinctness  the  importance  of  a  well- 
devised  and  carefully-prosecuted  scheme  of  internal  com- 
munication by  a  complete  system  of  railroads.  In  1812  he 
published  a  pamphlet  containing  "Documents  tending  to 
prove  the  superior  advantages  of  Railways  and  Steam-Car- 
riages over  Canal-Navigation."  *  At  this  time,  the  only 
locomotive  in  the  world  was  that  of  Trevithick  and  Vivian, 
at  Merthyr  Tydvil,  and  the  railroad  itself  had  not  grown 
beyond  the  old  wooden  tram-roads  of  the  collieries.  Yet 
Colonel  Stevens  says,  in  this  paper  :  "  I  can  see  nothing  to 
hinder  a  steam-carriage  moving  on  its  ways  with  a  velocity 
of  100  miles  an  hour  ; "  adding,  in  a  foot-note  :  "  This  as- 
tonishing velocity  is  considered  here  merely  possible.  It  is 
probable  that  it  may  not,  in  practise,  be  convenient  to  ex- 
ceed 20  or  30  miles  per  hour.  Actual  experiment  can  only 
determine  this  matter,  and  I  should  not  be  surprised  at 
seeing  steam-carriages  propelled  at  the  rate  of  40  or  50 
miles  an  hour." 

At  a  yet  earlier  date  he  had  addressed  a  memoir  to  the 
proper  authorities,  urging  his  plans  for  railroads.  He 
proposed  rails  of  timber,  protected,  when  necessary,  by 
iron  plates,  or  to  be  made  wholly  of  iron  ;  the  car-wheels 
were  to  be  of  cast-iron,  with  inside  flanges  to  keep  them  on 
the  track.  The  steam-engine  was  to  be  driven  by  steam  of 
50  pounds  pressure  and  upward,  and  to  be  non-condensing. 

Answering  the  objections  of  Robert  R.  Livingston  and 
of  the  State  Commissioners  of  New  York,  he  goes  further  into 
details.  He  gives  500  to  1,000  pounds  as  the  maximum 
weight  to  be  placed  on  each  wheel ;  shows  that  the  trains,  or 
"  suits  of  carnages,"  as  he  calls  them,  will  make  their  jour- 
neys with  as  much  certainty  and  celerity  in  the  darkest  night 
as  in  the  light  of  day  ;  shows  that  the  grades  of  proposed 

1  Printed  by  T.  &  J.  Swords,  160  Pearl  Street,  New  York,  1812. 


180  THE   MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 

roads  would  offer  but  little  resistance  ;  and  places  the  whole 
subject  before  the  public  with  such  accuracy  of  statement 
and  such  evident  appreciation  of  its  true  value,  that  every 
one  who  reads  this  remarkable  document  will  agree  fully 
with  President  Charles  King,  who  said '  that  "  whosoever 
shall  attentively  read  this  pamphlet,  will  perceive  that  the 
political,  financial,  commercial,  and  military  aspects  of  this 
great  question  were  all  present  to  Colonel  Stevens's  mind, 
and  that  he  felt  that  he  was  fulfilling  a  patriotic  duty  when 
he  placed  at  the  disposal  of  his  native  country  these  fruits 
of  his  genius.  The  offering  was  not  then  accepted.  The 
'  Thinker '  was  ahead  of  his  age  ;  but  it  is  grateful  to  know 
that  he  lived  to  see  his  projects  carried  out,  though  not  by 
the  Government,  and  that,  before  he  finally,  in  1838,  closed 
his  eyes  in  death,  at  the  great  age  of  eighty-nine,  he  could 
justly  feel  assured  that  the  name  of  Stevens,  in  his  own 
person  and  in  that  of  his  sons,  was  imperishably  enrolled 
among  those  which  a  grateful  country  will  cherish." 

Without  having  made  any  one  superlatively  great  im- 
provement in  the  mechanism  of  the  steam-engine,  like  that 
which  gave  Watt  his  fame — without  having  the  honor  even 
of  being  the  first  to  propose  the  propulsion  of  vessels  by  the 
modern  steam-engine,  or  steam-transportation  on  land — he 
exhibited  a  far  better  knowledge  of  the  science  and  the  art 
of  engineering  than  any  man  of  his  time  ;  and  he  enter- 
tained and  urged  more  advanced  opinions  and  more  states- 
manlike views  in  relation  to  the  economical  importance  of 
the  improvement  and  the  application  of  the  steam-engine, 
both  on  land  and  water,  than  seem  to  be  attributable  to 
any  other  leading  engineer  of  that  time. 

Says  Dr.  King :  "  Who  can  estimate  if,  at  that  day,  act- 
ing upon  the  well-considered  suggestion  of  President  Madi- 
son, '  of  the  signal  advantages  to  be  derived  to  the  United 
States  from  a  general  system  of  internal  communication  and 

1  "  Progress  of  the  City  of  New  York." 


STEAM-LOCOMOTION   ON   RAILEOADS.  181 

conveyance,'  Congress  had  entertained  Colonel  Stevens's 
proposal,  and,  after  verifying  by  actual  experiment  upon  a 
small  scale  the  accuracy  of  his  plan,  had  organized  such  a 
'general  system  of  internal  communication  and  convey- 
ance ; '  who  can  begin  to  estimate  the  inappreciable  bene- 
fits that  would  have  resulted  therefrom  to  the  comfort,  the 
wealth,  the  power,  and,  above  all,  to  the  absolutely  impreg- 
nable union  of  our  great  Republic  and  all  its  component 
parts?  All  this  Colonel  Stevens  embraced  in  his  views, 
for  he  was  a  statesman  as  well  as  an  experimental  philoso- 
pher ;  and  whoever  shall  attentively  read  his  pamphlet,  will 
perceive  that  the  political,  financial,  commercial,  and  mili- 
tary aspects  of  this  great  question  were  all  present  to  his 
mind,  and  he  felt  that  he  was  fulfilling  a  patriotic  duty 
when  he  placed  at  the  disposal  of  his  native  country  these 
fruits  of  his  genius." 

WILLIAM  HEDLET,  who  has  already  been  referred  to, 
seems  to  have  been  the  first  to  show,  by  carefully-conducted 
experiment,  how  far  the  adhesion  of  the  wheels  of  the  loco- 
motive-engine could  be  relied  upon  for  hauling-power  in 
the  transportation  of  loads. 

His  employer,  Blackett,  had  applied  to  Trevithick  for  a 
locomotive-engine  to  haul  coal-trains  at  the  Wylam  collier- 
ies ;  but  Trevithick  was  unable,  or  was  disinclined,  to  build 
him  one,  and  in  October,  1812,  Hedley  was  authorized  to 
attempt  the  construction  of  an  engine.  It  was  at  about 
this  time  that  Blenkinsop  (1811)  was  trying  the  toothed  rail 
or  rack,  the  Messrs.  Chapman  (December,  1812)  were  ex- 
perimenting with  a  towing-chain,  and  (May,  1813)  Brunton 
with  movable  legs. 

Hedley,  who  had  known  of  the  success  met  with  in  the 
experiments  of  Trevithick  with  smooth  wheels  hauling  loads 
of  considerable  weight,  in  Cornwall,  was  confident  that  equal 
success  might  be  expected  in  the  north-country,  and  built 
a  carriage  to  be  moved  by  men  stationed  at  four  handles, 
by  which  its  wheels  were  turned. 


182  THE   MODERN  STEAM-EXGINE. 

This  carriage  was  loaded  with  heavy  masses  of  iron,  and 
attached  to  trains  of  coal-wagons  on  the  railway.  By  re- 
peated experiment,  varying  the  weight  of  the  traction-car- 
riage and  the  load  hauled,  Hedley  ascertained  the  propor- 
tion of  the  weight  required  for  adhesion  to  that  of  the  loads 
drawn.  It  was  thus  conclusively  proven  that  the  weight  of 
his  proposed  locomotive-engine  would  be  sufficient  to  give 
the  pulling-power  necessary  for  the  propulsion  of  the  coal- 
trains  which  it  was  to  haul. 

When  the  wheels  slipped  in  consequence  of  the  presence 
of  grease,  frost,  or  moisture  on  the  rail,  Hedley  proposed  to 
sprinkle  ashes  on  the  track,  as  sand  is  now  distributed  from 
the  sand-box  of  the  modern  engine.  This  was  in  October, 
1812. 

Hedley  now  went  to  work  building  an  engine  with 
smooth  wheels,  and  patented  his  design  March  13,  1813,  a 
month  after  he  had  put  his  engine  at  work.  The  locomo- 
tive had  a  cast-iron  boiler,  and  a  single  steam-cylinder  6 
inches  in  diameter,  with  a  small  fly-wheel.  This  engine 
had  too  small  a  boiler,  and  he  soon  after  built  a  larger  en- 
gine, with  a  return-flue  boiler  made  of  wrought-iron.  This 
hauled  8  loaded  coal-wagons  5  miles  an  hour  at  first,  and  a 
little  later  10,  doing  the  work  of  10  horses.  The  steam- 
pressure  was  carried  at  about  50  pounds,  and  the  exhaust, 
led  into  the  chimney,  where  the  pipe  was  turned  upward, 
thus  secured  a  blast  of  considerable  intensity  in  its  small 
chimney.  Hedley  also  contracted  the  opening  of  the  ex- 
haust-pipe to  intensify  the  blast,  and  was  subjected  to  some 
annoyance  by  proprietors  of  lands  along  his  railway,  who 
were  irritated  by  the  burning  of  their  grass  and  hedges, 
which  were  set  on  fire  by  the  sparks  thrown  out  of  the 
chimney  of  the  locomotive.  The  cost  of  Hedley's  experi- 
ment was  defrayed  by  Mr.  Blackett. 

Subsequently,  Hedley  mounted  his  engine  on  eight 
wheels,  the  four-wheeled  engines  having  been  frequently 
stopped  by  breaking  the  light  rails  then  in  use.  Hedley's 


STEAM-LOCOMOTIOX   ON   RAILROADS.  183 

engines  continued  in  use  at  the  Wylam  collieries  many 
years.  The  second  engine  was  removed  in  1862,  and  is  now- 
preserved  at  the  South  Kensington  Museum,  London. 

GEOKGE  STEPHEXSO^,  to  whom  is  generally  accorded 
the  honor  of  having  first  made  the  locomotive-engine  a  suc- 
cess, built  his  first  engine  at  Killingworth,  England,  in  1814. 

At  this  time  Stephenson  was  by  no  means  alone  in  the 
field,  for  the  idea  of  applying  the  steam-engine  to  driving 
carriages  on  common  roads  and  on  railroads  was  beginning, 


George  Stephenson. 

as  has  been  seen,  to  attract  considerable  attention.  Ste- 
phenson, however,  combined,  in  a  very  fortunate  degree, 
the  advantages  of  great  natural  inventive  talent  and  an 
excellent  mechanical  training,  reminding  one  strongly  of 
James  Watt.  Indeed,  Stephenson's  portrait  bears  some 
resemblance  to  that  of  the  earlier  great  inventor. 

George  Stephenson  was  born  June  9,  1781,  at  Wylam, 


184  THE   MODERN   STEAH-EXGINE. 

near  Newcastle-upon-Tyne,  and  was  the  son  of  a  "  north- 
country  miner."  When  still  a  child,  he  exhibited  great  me- 
chanical talent  and  unusual  love  of  study.  When  set  at 
work  about  the  mines,  his  attention  to  duty  and  his  intelli- 
gence obtained  for  him  rapid  promotion,  until,  when  but 
seventeen  years  of  age,  he  was  made  engineer,  and  took 
charge  of  the  pumping-engine  at  which  his  father  was  fire- 
man. 

When  a  mere  child,  and  employed  as  a  herd-boy,  he 
amused  himself  making  model  engines  in  clay,  and,  as  he 
grew  older,  never  lost  an  opportunity  to  learn  the  construc- 
tion and  management  of  machinery.  After  having  been 
employed  at  Newburn  and  Callerton,  where  he  first  became 
"  engine-man,"  he  began  to  study  with  greater  interest  than 
ever  the  various  steam-engines  which  were  then  in  use  ;  and 
both  the  Newcomen  engine  and  the  Watt  pumping-engine 
were  soon  thoroughly  understood  by  him.  After  having 
become  a  brakeman,  he  removed  to  Willington  Quay, 
where  he  married,  and  commenced  his  wedded  life  on  18  or 
20  shillings  per  week.  It  was  here  that  he  became  an  inti- 
mate friend  of  the  distinguished  William  Fairbairn,  who 
was  then  working  as  an  apprentice  at  the  Percy  Main 
Colliery,  near  by.  The  "  father  of  the  railroad  "  and  the 
future  President  of  the  British  Association  were  accus- 
tomed, at  times,  to  "  change  works,"  and  were  frequently 
seen  in  consultation  over  their  numerous  projects.  It  was 
at  Willington  Quay  that  his  son  Robert,  who  afterward 
became  a  distinguished  civil  engineer,  was  born,  October 
16,  1803. 

In  the  following  year  Stephenson  removed  to  Killing- 
worth,  and  became  brakeman  at  that  colliery  ;  but  his 
wife  soon  died,  and  he  gladly  accepted  an  invitation  to  be- 
come engine-driver  at  a  spinning-mill  near  Montrose,  Scot- 
land. At  the  end  of  a  year  he  returned,  on  foot,  to  Killing- 
worth  with  his  savings  (about  £28),  expended  over  one- 
half  of  the  amount  in  paying  his  father's  debts  and  in  mak- 


STEAM-LOCOMOTION   ON  RAILROADS.  185 

ing  his  parents  comfortable,  and  then  returned  to  his  old 
station  as  brakeman  at  the  pit. 

Here  he  made  some  useful  improvements  in  the  arrange- 
ment of  the  machinery,  and  spent  his  spare  hours  in  study- 
ing his  engine  and  planning  new  machines.  He  a  little 
later  distinguished  himself  by  altering  and  repairing  an 
old  Kewcomen  engine  at  the  High  Pit,  which  had  failed 
to  give  satisfaction,  making  it  thoroughly  successful  after 
three  days'  work.  The  engine  cleared  the  pit,  at  which  it 
had  been  vainly  laboring  a  long  time,  in  two  days  after 
Stephenson  started  it  up. 

In  the  year  1812,  Stephenson  was  made  engine-wright  of 
the  Killingworth  High  Pit,  receiving  £100  a  year,  and  it  was 
made  his  duty  to  supervise  the  machinery  of  all  the  col- 
lieries under  lease  by  the  so-called  "  Grand  Allies."  It  was 
here,  and  at  this  period,  that  he  commenced  a  systematic 
course  of  self-improvement  and  the  education  of  his  son, 
and  here  he  first  began  to  be  recognized  as  an  inventor. 
He  was  full  of  life  and  something  of  a  wag,  and  often  made 
most  amusing  applications  of  his  inventive  powers  :  as  when 
he  placed  the  watch,  which  a  comrade  had  brought  him  as 
out  of  repairs,  in  the  oven  "  to  cook,"  his  quick  eye  having 
noted  the  fact  that  the  difficulty  arose  simply  from  the 
clogging  of  the  wheels  by  the  oil,  which  had  been  congealed 
by  cold. 

Smiles,1  his  biographer,  describes  his  cottage  as  a  perfect 
curiosity-shop,  filled  with  models  of  engines,  machines  of 
various  kinds,  and  novel  apparatus.  He  connected  the  cra- 
dles of  his  neighbors'  wives  with  the  smoke-jacks  in  their 
chimneys,  and  thus  relieved  them  from  constant  attendance 
upon  their  infants  ;  he  fished  at  night  with  a  submarine 
lamp,  which  attracted  the  fish  from  all  sides,  and  gave  him 
wonderful  luck  ;  he  also  found  time  to  give  colloquial  in- 
struction to  his  fellow-workmen. 

1  "  Lives  of  George  and  Robert  Stephenson,"  by  Samuel  Smiles.  New 
York  and  London,  1868. 


186  THE  MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 

He  built  a  self-acting  inclined  plane  for  his  pit,  on  whick 
the  wagons,  descending  loaded,  drew  up  the  empty  trains  ; 
and  made  so  many  improvements  at  the  Killingworth  pit, 
that  the  number  of  horses  employed  underground  was  re- 
duced from  100  to  16. 

Stephenson  now  had  more  liberty  than  when  employed 
at  the  brakes,  and,  hearing  of  the  experiments  of  Blackett 
and  Hedley  at  Wylam,  went  over  to  their  colliery  to  study 
their  engine.  He  also  went  to  Leeds  to  see  the  Blenkin- 
sop  engine  draw,  at  a  trial,  70  tons  at  the  rate  of  3  miles 
an  hour,  and  expressed  his  opinion  in  the  characteristic  re- 
mark, "  I  think  I  could  make  a  better  engine  than  that  to 
go  upon  legs."  He  very  soon  made  the  attempt. 

Having  laid  the  subject  before  the  proprietors  of  the 
lease  under  which  the  collieries  were  worked,  and  convinced 
Lord  Ravensworth,  the  principal  owner,  of  the  advantages 
to  be  secured  by  the  use  of  a  "  traveling  engine,"  that 
nobleman  advanced  the  money  required.  Stephenson  at 
once  commenced  his  first  locomotive-engine,  building  it  in 
the  workshops  at  West  Moor,  assisted  mainly  by  John 
Thirl  wall,  the  colliery  blacksmith,  during  the  years  1813 
and  1814,  completing  it  in  July  of  the  latter  year. 

This  engine  had  a  wrought-iron  boiler  8  feet  long  and 
2  feet  10  inches  in  diameter,  with  a  single  flue  20  inches  in 
diameter.  The  cylinders  were  vertical,  8  inches  in  diame- 
ter and  of  2  feet  stroke  of  piston,  set  in  the  boiler,  and 
driving  a  set  of  wheels  which  geared  with  each  other  and 
with  other  cogged  wheels  on  the  two  driving-axles.  A  feed- 
water  heater  surrounded  the  base  of  the  chimney.  This 
engine  drew  30  tons  on  a  rising  gradient  of  10  or  12  feet  to 
the  mile  at  the  rate  of  4  miles  an  hour.  This  engine  proved 
in  many  respects  defective,  and  the  cost  of  its  operation 
was  found  to  be  about  as  great  as  that  of  employing  horse- 
power. 

Stephenson  determined  to  build  another  engine  on  a 
somewhat  different  plan,  and  patented  its  design  in  Febru- 


STEAM-LOCOMOTION   ON   RAILROADS.  187 

ary,  1815.     It  proved  a  much  more  efficient  machine  than 
the  "Bliicher,"  the  first  engine. 

This  second  engine  (Fig.  51)  was  also  fitted  with  two 
vertical  cylinders,  C  c,  but  the  connecting-rods  were  at- 
tached directly  to  the  four  driving-wheels,  W  W .  To  per- 
mit the  necessary  freedom  of  motion,  "ball-and-socket" 
joints  were  adopted,  to  unite  the  rods  with  the  cross-heads, 


FIG.  51.— Stephenson's  Locomotive  of  1815.    Section. 

R  r,  and  with  the  cranks,  R  Y'\  and  the  two  driving-axles 
were  connected  by  an  endless  chain,  Tt '.  The  cranked  axle 
and  the  outside  connection  of  the  wheels,  as  specified  in  the 
patent,  were  not  used  until  afterward,  it  having  been  found 
impossible  to  get  the  cranked  axles  made.  In  this  engine 
the  forced  draught  obtained  by  the  impulse  of  the  exhaust- 
steam  was  adopted,  doubling  the  power  of  the  machine  and 
permitting  the  use  of  coke  as  a  fuel,  and  making  it  possible 
to  adopt  the  multitubular  boiler.  Small  steam-cylinders, 
S  S/S,  took  the  weight  of  the  engine  and  served  as  springs. 
It  was  at  about  this  time  that  George  Stephenson  and 


188  THE   MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 

Sir  Humphry  Davy,  independently  and  almost  simultane- 
ously, invented  the  "  safety-lamp,"  without  which  few  mines 
of  bituminous  coal  could  to-day  be  worked.  The  former 
used  small  tubes,  the  latter  fine  wire  gauze,  to  intercept  the 
flame.  Stephenson  proved  the  efficiency  of  his  lamp  by 
going  with  it  directly  into  the  inflammable  atmosphere  of  a 
dangerous  mine,  and  repeatedly  permitting  the  light  to  be 
extinguished  when  the  lamp  became  surcharged  with  the 
explosive  mixture  which  had  so  frequently  proved  fatal  to 
the  miners.  This  was  in  October  and  November,  1815,  and 
Stephenson's  work  antedates  that  of  the  great  philosopher.1 
The  controversy  which  arose  between  the  supporters  of  the 
rival  claims  of  the  two  inventors  was  very  earnest,  and 
sometimes  bitter.  The  friends  of  the  young  engineer  raised 
a  subscription,  amounting  to  above  £1,000,  and  presented  it 
to  him  as  a  token  of  their  appreciation  of  the  value  of  his 
simple  yet  important  contrivance.  Of  the  two  forms  of 
lamp,  that  of  Stephenson  is  claimed  to  be  safest,  the  Davy 
lamp  being  liable  to  produce  explosions  by  igniting  the  ex- 
plosive gas  when,  by  its  combustion  within  the  gauze  cylin- 
der, the  latter  is  made  red-hot.  Under  similar  conditions, 
the  Stephenson  lamp  is  simply  extinguished,  as  was  seen  at 
Barnsley,  in  1857,  at  the  Oaks  Colliery,  where  both  kinds 
of  lamp  were  in  use,  and  elsewhere. 

Stephenson  continued  to  study  and  experiment,  with  a 
view  to  the  improvement  of  his  locomotive  and  the  railroad. 
He  introduced  better  methods  of  track-laying  and  of 
jointing  the  rails,  adopting  a  half-lap,  or  peculiar  scarf- 
joint,  in  place  of  the  then  usual  square-butt  joint.  He  pat- 
ented, with  these  modifications  of  the  permanent  way,  sev- 
eral of  his  improvements  of  the  engine.  He  had  substituted 
forged  for  the  rude  cast  wheels  previously  used,3  and  had 

1  Vide  "A  Description  of  the  Safety-Lamp  invented  by  George  Stephen- 
son,"  etc.,  London,  1817. 

*  The  American  chilled  wheel  of  cast-iron,  a  better  wheel  than  that  above 
described,  has  never  been  generally  and  successfully  introduced  in  Europe. 


STEAM-LOCOMOTION   ON   RAILROADS.  189 

made  many  minor  changes  of  detail.  The  engines  built 
at  this  time  (1816)  continued  in  use  many  years.  Two 
years  later,  with  a  dynamometer  which  he  designed  for  the 
purpose,  he  made  experimental  determinations  of  the  resist- 
ance of  trains,  and  showed  that  it  was  made  up  of  several 
kinds,  as  the  sliding  friction  of  the  axle-journals  in  their 
bearings,  the  rolling  friction  of  the  wheels  on  the  rails,  the 
resistance  due  to  gravity  on  gradients,  and  that  due  to  the 
resistance  of  the  air. 

These  experiments  seemed  to  him  conclusive  against  the 
possibility  of  the  competition  of  engines  on  the  common 
highway  with  locomotives  hauling  trains  on  the  rail.  Find- 
ing that  the  resistance,  with  his  rolling-stock,  and  at  all  the 
speeds  at  which  he  made  his  experiments,  was  approximate- 
ly invariable,  and  equivalent  to  about  10  pounds  per  ton, 
and  estimating  that  a  gradient  rising  but  1  foot  in  100 
would  decrease  the  hauling  power  of  the  engine  50  per 
cent.,  he  saw  at  once  the  necessity  of  making  all  railroads 
as  nearly  absolutely  level  as  possible,  and,  consequently,  the 
radically  distinctive  character  of  this  branch  of  civil  engi- 
neering work.  He  persistently  condemned  the  "  folly  "  of 
attempting  the  general  introduction  of  steam  on  the  com- 
mon road,  where  great  changes  of  level  and  an  impressible 
road-bed  were  certain  to  prove  fatal  to  success,  and  was 
most  strenuous  in  his  advocacy  of  the  policy  of  securing 
level  tracks,  even  at  very  great  expense. 

Taking  part  in  the  contest,  which  now  became  a  serious 
one,  between  the  advocates  of  steam  on  the  common  road 
and  those  urging  the  introduction  of  locomotives  and  their 
trains  on  an  iron  track,  he  calculated  that  a  road-engine 
capable  of  carrying  20  or  30  passengers  at  10  miles  per  hour, 
could,  on  the  rail,  cariy  ten  times  as  many  people  at  three 
or  four  times  that  speed.  The  railway-engine  finally  super- 
seded its  predecessor — the  engine  of  the  common  road — 
almost  completely. 

In  1817,  Stephenscm  built  an  engine  for  the  Duke  of 


190  THE   MODERN   STEAM-ENGINE. 

Portland,  to  haul  coal  from  Kilmarnock  to  Troon,  which 
cost  £750,  and,  with  some  interruptions,  this  engine  worked 
on  that  line  until  1848,  when  it  was  broken  up.  On  Novem- 
ber 18,  1822,  the  Hetton  Railway,  near  Sunderland,  was 
opened.  George  Stephenson  was  the  engineer  of  the  line — a 
short  track,  8  miles  long,  built  from  the  Hetton  Colliery  to 
the  docks  on  the  bank  of  the  river  Wear.  On  this  line  he 
put  in  five  of  the  "  self-acting  inclines  " — two  inclines  worked 
by  stationary  engines,  the  gradients  being  too  heavy  for 
locomotives — and  used  five  locomotive-engines  of  his  own 
design,  which  were  called  by  the  people  of  the  neighbor- 
hood, possibly  for  the  first  time,  "  the  iron  horses."  These 
engines  were  quite  similar  to  the  Killingworth  engine. 
They  drew  a  train  of  IT  coal-cars — a  total  load  of  64  tons 
— about  4  miles  an  hour.  Meantime,  also,  in  1823,  Ste- 
phenson had  been  made  engineer  of  the  Stockton  &  Dar- 
lington Railroad,  which  had  been  projected  for  the  purpose 
of  securing  transportation  to  tide-water  for  the  valuable 
coal-lands  of  Durham.  This  road  was  built  without  an  ex- 
pectation on  the  part  of  any  of  its  promoters,  Stephenson 
excepted,  that  steam  would  be  used  as  a  motor  to  the  ex- 
clusion of  horses. 

Mr.  Edward  Pearse,  however,  one  of  the  largest  holders 
of  stock  in  the  road,  and  one  of  its  most  earnest  advocates, 
became  so  convinced,  by  an  examination  of  the  Killing- 
worth  engines  and  their  work,  of  the  immense  advantage  to 
be  derived  by  their  use,  that  he  not  only  supported  Ste- 
phenson's  arguments,  but,  with  Thomas  Richardson,  ad- 
vanced £1,000  for  the  purpose  of  assisting  Stephenson  to 
commence  the  business  of  locomotive-engine  construction  at 
Newcastle.  This  workshop,  which  subsequently  became  a 
great  and  famous  establishment,  was  commenced  in  1824. 

For  this  road  Stephenson  recommended  wrought-iron 
rails,  which  were  then  costing  £12  per  ton — double  the  price 
of  cast  rails.  The  directors,  however,  stipulated  that  he 
should  only  buy  one-half  the  rails  required  from  the  dealers 


STEAM-LOCOMOTION   ON   RAILROADS.  191 

in  "  malleable  "  iron.  These  rails  weighed  20  pounds  to  the 
yard.  After  long  hesitation,  in  the  face  of  a  serious  opposi- 
tion, the  directors  finally  concluded  to  order  three  locomo- 
tives of  Stephenson.  The  first,  or  "No.  1,"  engine  (Fig.  52) 
was  delivered  in  time  for  the  opening  of  the  road,  Septem- 
ber 27, 1825.  It  weighed  8  tons.  Its  boiler  contained  a  sin- 


FIG.  52.-Stei>henson'8  No.  1  Engine,  1825. 

gle  straight  flue,  one  end  of  which  was  the  furnace.  The 
cylinders  were  vertical,  like  those  of  the  earlier  engines,  and 
coupled  directly  to  the  driving-wheels.  The  crank-pins 
were  set  in  the  wheels  at  right  angles,  in  order  that,  while 
one  engine  was  "  turning  the  centre,"  the  other  might  exert 
its  maximum  power.  The  two  pairs  of  drivers  were  coupled 
by  horizontal  rods,  as  seen  in  the  figure,  which  represents 
this  engine  as  subsequently  mounted  on  a  pedestal  at  the  Dar- 
lington station.  A  steam-blast  in  the  chimney  gave  the 
requisite  strength  of  draught.  These  engines  were  built  for 
slow  and  heavy  work,  but  were  capable  of  making  what  was 
then  thought  the  satisfactorily  high  speed  of  16  miles  per 
hour.  The  inclines  on  the  road  were  worked  by  fixed  engines. 
On  the  opening  day,  which  was  celebrated  as  a  holiday 
10 


192 


THE   MODERN   STEAM-ENGINE. 


by  the  people  far  and  near,  the  No.  I  engine  drew  90  tons 
at  the  rate  of  12,  and  at  times  15,  miles  an  hour. 

Stephenson's  engines  were  kept  at  work  hauling  coal- 


STEAM-LOCOMOTION  ON   RAILROADS.  193 

trains,  but  the  passenger-coaches  were  all  drawn  for  some 
time  by  horses,  and  the  latter  system  was  a  rude  forerunner, 
in  most  respects,  of  modern  street-railway  transportation. 
Mixed  passenger  and  freight  trains  were  next  introduced, 
and,  soon  after,  separate  passenger-trains  drawn  by  faster 
engines  were  placed  on  the  line,  and  the  present  system  of 
railroad  transportation  was  now  fairly  inaugurated. 

A  railroad  between  Manchester  and  Liverpool  had  been 
projected  at  about  the  time  that  the  Stockton  &  Darling- 
ton road  was  commenced.  The  preliminary  surveys  had 
been  made  in  the  face  of  strong  opposition,  which  did  not 
always  stop  at  legal  action  and  verbal  attack,  but  in 
some  instances  led  to  the  display  of  force.  The  surveyors 
were  sometimes  driven  from  their  work  by  a  mob  armed 
with  sticks  and  stones,  urged  on  by  land-proprietors  and 
those  interested  in  the  lines  of  coaches  on  the  highway. 
Before  the  opening  of  the  Stockton  &  Darlington  Rail- 
road, the  Liverpool  &  Manchester  bill  had  been  carried 
through  Parliament,  after  a  very  determined  effort  on  the 
part  of  coach-proprietors  and  landholders  to  defeat  it,  and 
Stephenson  urged  the  adoption  of  the  locomotive  to  the 
exclusion  of  horses.  It  was  his  assertion,  made  at  this 
time,  that  he  could  build  a  locomotive  to  run  20  miles  an 
hour,  that  provoked  the  celebrated  rejoinder  of  a  writer  in 
the  Quarterly  Review,  who  was,  however,  in  favor  of  the 
construction  of  the  road  and  of  the  use  of  the  locomotive 
upon  it :  "  What  can  be  more  palpably  absurd  and  ridicu- 
lous, than  the  prospect  held  out  of  locomotives  traveling 
twice  as  fast  as  stage-coaches  ?  We  would  as  soon  expect 
the  people  of  Woolwich  to  suffer  themselves  to  be  fired  off 
upon  one  of  Congreve's  ricochet-rockets,  as  trust  themselves 
to  the  mercy  of  such  a  machine  going  at  such  a  rate." 

It  was  during  his  examination  before  a  committee  of 
the  House  of  Commons,  during  this  contest,  that  Stephen- 
son,  when  asked,  "  Suppose,  now,  one  of  your  engines  to 
be  going  at  the  rate  of  9  or  10  miles  an  hour,  and  that  a 


194  THE   MODERN  STEAM-ENGIXE. 

cow  were  to  stray  upon  the  line  and  get  in  the  way  of  the 
engine,  would  not  that  be  a  very  awkward  circumstance  ?  " 
replied,  "  Yes,  very  awkward — -for  the  coo !  "  And  when 
asked  if  men  and  animals  would  not  be  frightened  by  the 
red-hot  smoke-pipe,  answered,  "  But  how  would  they  know 
that  it  was  not  painted?"  The  line  was  finally  built,  with 
George  Rennie  as  consulting,  and  Stephenson  as  principal 
constructing  engineer. 

His  work  on  this  road  became  one  of  the  impor- 
tant elements  of  the  success,  and  one  of  the  great  causes 
of  the  distinction,  which  marked  the  life  of  these  rising 
engineers.  The  successful  construction  of  that  part  of 
the  line  which  lay  across  "Chat  Moss,"  an  unfathomable 
swampy  deposit  of  peat,  extending  over  an  area  of  12 
square  miles,  and  the  building  of  which  had  been  repeat- 
edly declared  an  impossibility,  was  in  itself  sufficient  to 
prove  that  the  engineer  who  had  accomplished  it  was  no 
common  man.  Stephenson  adopted  the  very  simple  yet 
bold  expedient  of  using,  as  a  filling,  compacted  turf  and  peat, 
and  building  a  road-bed  of  materials  lighter  than  water, 
or  the  substance  composing  the  bog,  and  thus  forming  a 
floating  embankment,  on  which  he  laid  his  rails.  To  the 
surprise  of  every  one  but  Stephenson  himself,  the  plan 
proved  perfectly  successful,  and  even  surprisingly  economi- 
cal, costing  but  little  more  than  one-tenth  the  estimate  of 
at  least  one  engineer.  Among  the  other  great  works  on 
this  remarkable  pioneer-line  were  the  tunnel,  a  mile  and  a 
half  long,  from  the  station  at  Liverpool  to  Edgehill  ;  the 
Olive  Mount  deep-cut,  two  miles  long,  and  in  some  places 
100  feet  deep,  through  red  sandstone,  of  which  nearly 
500,000  yards  were  removed  ;  the  Sankey  Viaduct,  a  brick 
structure  of  nine  arches,  of  50  feet  span  each,  costing 
£45,000  ;  and  a  number  of  other  pieces  of  work  which  are 
noteworthy  in  even  these  days  of  great  works. 

Stephenson  planned  all  details  of  the  line,  and  even  de- 
signed the  bridges,  machinery,  engines,  turn-tables,  switches, 


STEAM-LOCOMOTIOX   ON  RAILROADS.  195 

and  crossings,  and  was  responsible  for  every  part  of  tlie 
work  of  their  construction. 

Finally,  the  work  of  building  the  line  approached  com- 
pletion, and  it  became  necessary  promptly  to  settle  the  long- 
deferred  question  of  a  method  of  applying  motive-power. 
Some  of  the  directors  and  their  advisers  still  advocated  the 
use  of  horses  ;  many  thought  stationary  hauling-engines 
preferable  ;  and  the  remainder  were,  almost  to  a  man,  unde- 
cided. The  locomotive  had  no  outspoken  advocate,  and 
few  had  the  slightest  faith  in  it.  George  Stephenson  was 
almost  alone,  and  the  opponents  of  steam  had  secured  a 
provision  in  the  Newcastle  &  Carlisle  Railroad  concession, 
stipulating  expressly  that  horses  should  there  be  exclusively 
employed.  The  directors  did,  however,  in  1828,  permit 
Stephenson  to  put  on  the  line  a  locomotive,  to  be  used,  dur- 
ing its  construction,  in  hauling  gravel-trains.  A  committee 
was  sent,  at  Stephenson's  request,  to  see  the  Stockton  & 
Darlington  engines,  but  no  decided  expression  of  opinion 
seems  to  have  been  made  by  them.  Two  well-known  pro- 
fessional engineers  reported  in  favor  of  fixed  engines,  and 
advised  the  division  of  the  line  into  19  stages  of  about  a 
mile  and  a  half  each,  and  the  use  of  21  fixed  engines,  al- 
though they  admitted  the  excessive  first-cost  of  that  system. 
The  board  was  naturally  strongly  inclined  to  adopt  their 
plan.  Stephenson,  however,  earnestly  and  persistently  op- 
posed such  action,  and,  after  long  debate,  it  was  finally  de- 
termined "  to  give  the  traveling  engine  a  chance."  The 
board  decided  to  offer  a  reward  of  £500  for  the  best  loco- 
motive-engine, and  prescribed  the  following  conditions  : 

1.  The  engine  must  consume  its  own  smoke. 

2.  The  engine,  if  of  6  tons  weight,  must  be  able  to  draw  after  it,  day 
by  day,  20  tons  weight  (including  the  tender  and  water-tank)  at  10  miles  an 
hour,  with  a  pressure  of  steam  on  the  boiler  not  exceeding  50  pounds  to  the 
square  inch. 

3.  The  boiler  must  have  two  safety-valves,  neither  of  which  must  be  fast- 
ened down,  and  one  of  them  completely  out  of  the  control  of  the  engine-man. 


19G  THE  MODERN   STEAM-ENGINE. 

4.  The  engine  and  boiler  must  be  supported  on  springs,  and  rest  on  6 
wheels,  the  height  of  the  whole  not  exceeding  15  feet  to  the  top  of  the 
chimney. 

5.  The  engine,  with  water,  must  not  weigh  more  than  6  tons ;  but  an 
engine  of  less  weight  would  be  preferred,  on  its  drawing  a  proportionate 
load  behind  it ;  if  of  only  4-J  tons,  then  it  might  be  put  only  on  4  wheels. 
The  company  to  be  at  liberty  to  test  the  boiler,  etc.,  by  a  pressure  of  150 
pounds  to  the  square  inch. 

6.  A  mercurial  gauge  must  be  affixed  to  the  machine,  showing  the 
steam-pressure  above  45  pounds  to  the  square  inch. 

7.  The  engine  must  be  delivered,  complete  and  ready  for  trial,  at  the 
Liverpool  end  of  the  railway,  not  later  than  the  1st  of  October,  1829. 

8.  The  price  of  the  engine  must  not  exceed  £550. 

This  circular  was  printed  and  published  throughout  the 
kingdom,  and  a  considerable  number  of  engines  were  con- 
structed to  compete  at  the  trial,  which  was  proposed  to 
take  place  October  1,  1829,  but  which  was  deferred  to  the 
Oth  of  that  month.  Only  four  engines,  however,  were  final- 
ly entered  on  the  day  of  the  trial.  These  were  the  "  Nov- 
elty," constructed  by  Messrs.  Braithwaite  &  Ericsson,  the 
latter  being  the  distinguished  engineer  who  subsequently 
came  to  the  United  States  to  introduce  screw-propulsion, 
and,  later,  the  monitor  system  of  iron-clads  ;  the  "  Rocket," 
built  from  Stephenson's  plans ;  and  the  "  Sanspareil "  and 
the  "  Perseverance,"  built  by  Hackworth  and  Burstall,  re- 
spectively. 

The  "  Sanspareil,"  which  was  built  under  the  direction 
of  Timothy  Hackworth,  one  of  Stephenson's  earlier  foremen, 
resembled  the  engine  built  by  the  latter  for  the  Stockton 
&  Darlington  road,  but  was  heavier  than  had  been  stipu- 
lated, was  not  ready  for  work  when  called,  and,  when  finally 
set  at  work,  proved  to  be  very  extravagant  in  its  use  of 
fuel,  partly  in  consequence  of  the  extreme  intensity  of  its 
blast,  which  caused  the  expulsion  of  unconsumed  coals  from 
the  furnace. 

The  "  Perseverance  "  could  not  attain  the  specified  speed, 
and  was  withdrawn. 


STEAM-LOCOMOTION   ON   RAILROADS. 


197 


The  "  Novelty  "  was  apparently  a  well-designed  and  for 
that  time  a  remarkably  well-proportioned  machine.  A,  in 
Fig.  54,  is  the  boiler,  D  the  steam-cylinders,  E  a  heater. 
Its  weight  but  slightly  exceeded  three  tons,  and  it  was  a 


FIG.  54.— The  "Novelty,"  1829. 

"  tank  engine,"  carrying  its  own  fuel  and  water  at  13.  A 
forced  draught  was  obtained  by  means  of  the  bellows,,  C. 
This  engine  was  run  over  the  line  at  the  rate  of  about  28 
miles  an  hour  at  times,  but  its  blowing  apparatus  failed, 
and  the  "  Rocket "  held  the  track  alone.  A  later  trial  still 
left  the  "  Rocket"  alone  in  the  field. 

The  "  Rocket "  (Fig.  55)  was  built  at  the  works  of  Robert 
Stephenson  &  Co.,  at  Newcastle-upon-Tyne.  The  boiler  was 
given  considerable  heating-surface  by  the  introduction  of 
25  3-inch  copper  tubes,  at  the  suggestion  of  Henry  Booth, 
secretary  of  the  railroad  company.  The  blast  was  altered 
by  gradually  closing  in  the  opening  at  the  extremity  of  the 
exhaust-pipe,  and  thus  "  sharpening  "  it  until  it  was  found 
to  have  the  requisite  intensity.  The  effect  of  this  modifica- 
tion of  the  shape  of  the  pipe  was  observed  carefully  by 
means  of  syphon  water-gauges  attached  to  the  chimney. 
The  draft  was  finally  given  such  an  intensity  as  to  raise  the 
water  3  inches  in  the  tube  of  the  draught-gauge.  The 


198 


THE   MODERN   STEAM-ENGINE. 


total  length  of  the  boiler  was  6  feet,  its  diameter  40  inches. 
The  fire-box  was  attached  to  the  rear  of  the  boiler,  and  was 
3  feet  high  and  2  feet  wide,  with  water-legs  to  protect  its 
side-sheets  from  injury  by  overheating.  The  cylinders,  as 


FIG.  55.— The  "Rocket,"  1829. 

seen  in  the  sketch,  were  inclined,  and  coupled  to  a  single 
pair  of  driving-wheels.  A  tender,  attached  to  the  engine, 
carried  the  fuel  and  water.  The  engine  weighed  less  than 
4£  tons. 

The  little  engine  does  not  seem  to  have  been  very  pre- 
possessing in  appearance,  and  the  "  Novelty  "  is  said  to  have 
been  the  general  favorite,-  the  Stephenson  engine  having 
few,  if  any,  backers  among  the  spectators.  On  its  first 
trial,  it  ran  12  miles  in  less  than  an  hour. 

After  the  accident  which  disabled  the  "Novelty,"  the 
"  Rocket "  came  forward  again,  and  ran  at  the  rate  of  from 
25  to  30  miles  an  hour,  drawing  a  single  carriage  carrying  30 
passengers.  Two  days  later,  on  the  8th  of  October,  steam 
was  raised  in  a  little  less  than  an  hour  from  cold  water,  and 


STEAM-LOCOMOTION  ON   RAILROADS.  199 

it  then,  with  13  tons  of  freight  in  the  train,  ran  35  miles  in 
1  hour  and  48  minutes,  including  stops,  and  attained  a  speed 
of  29  miles  an  hour.  The  average  of  all  runs  for  the  trial 
was  15  miles  an  hour. 

This  success,  far  exceeding  the  expectation  of  the  most 
sanguine  of  the  advocates  of  the  system,  and  greatly  ex- 
ceeding what  had  been  asserted  by  opponents  to  be  the 
bounds  of  possibility,  settled  completely  the  whole  ques- 
tion, and  the  Manchester  &  Liverpool  road  was  at  once 
equipped  with  locomotive  engines. 

The  "Rocket"  remained  on  the  line  until  1837,  when  it 
was  sold,  and  set  at  work  by  the  purchasers  on  the  Midge- 
holme  Railway,  near  Carlisle.  On  one  occasion,  on  this 
road,  it  was  driven  4  miles  in  4^  minutes.  It  is  now  in  the 
Patent  Museum  at  South  Kensington,  London. 

In  January,  1830,  a  single  line  of  rails  had  been  carried 
across  Chat  Moss,  and,  six  months  later,  the  first  train, 
drawn  by  the  "Arrow,"  ran  through,  June  14th,  from  Liv- 
erpool to  Manchester,  making  the  trip  in  an  hour  and  a 
half,  and  attaining  a  maximum  speed  of  over  27  miles  an 
hour.  The  line  was  formally  opened  to  traffic  September 
15,  1830. 

This  was  one  of  the  most  notable  occasions  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  railroad,  and  the  successful  termination  of  the 
great  work  was  celebrated,  as  so  important  an  event  should 
be,  by  impressive  ceremonies.  Among  the  distinguished 
spectators  were  Sir  Robert  Peel  and  the  Duke  of  Welling- 
ton. Mr.  Huskisson,  a  Member  of  Parliament  for  Liverpool, 
was  also  present.  There  had  been  built  for  the  line,  by  Rob- 
ert Stephenson  &  Co.,  7  locomotives  besides  the  "Rocket," 
and  a  large  number  of  carriages.  These  were  all  brought 
out  in  procession,  and  600  passengers  entered  the  train, 
which  started  for  Manchester,  and  ran  at  times,  on  smooth 
portions  of  the  road,  at  the  rate  of  20  and  25  miles  an  hour. 
Crowds  of  people  along  the  line  cheered  at  this  strange 
and  to  them  incomprehensible  spectacle,  and  the  story  of 


200  THE   MODERN   STEAM-ENGINE. 

the  wonderful  performances  of  that  day  on  the  new  railroad 
was  repeated  in  every  corner  of  the  land.  A  sad  accident, 
the  precursor  of  thousands  to  follow  the  introduction  of  the 
new  method  of  transportation,  while  it  repressed  the  rising 
enthusiasm  of  the  people  and  dampened  the  ardor  of  the 
most  earnest  of  the  advocates  of  the  railroad,  occurring 
during  this  trip,  assisted  in  making  known  the  power  of  the 
new  motor  and  the  danger  attending  its  use  as  well.  .The 
trains  stopped  for  water  at  Parkside,  and  occasion  was 
taken  to  send  the  "Northumbrian,"  an  engine  driven  by 
George  Stephenson  himself,  on  a  side  track,  with  the  car- 
riage containing  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  and  the  other 
engines  and  trains  were  all  directed  to  be  sent  along  the 
main  track  in  view  of  the  Duke  and  his  party.  While  this 
movement  was  in  process  of  execution,  Mr.  Huskisson,  who 
had  carelessly  stood  on  the  main  line  until  the  "  Rocket," 
which  led  the  column,  had  nearly  reached  him,  attempted 
to  enter  the  carriage  of  the  Duke.  He  was  too  late,  and 
was  struck  by  the  "  Rocket,"  thrown  down  across  the  rail, 
and  the  advancing  engine  crushed  a  leg  so  seriously  that  he 
died  the  same  evening.  Immediately  after  the  accident,  he 
was  placed  on  the  "Northumbrian,"  and  Stephenson  made 
the  15  miles  to  the  destination  of  the  wounded  man  in  25 
minutes — a  speed  of  36  miles  an  hour.  The  news  of  this  ac- 
cident, and  the  statement  of  the  velocity  of  the  engine,  were 
published  throughout  the  kingdom  and  Europe  ;  and  the 
misfortune  of  this  first  victim  of  a  railroad  accident  was  one 
of  the  causes  of  the  immediate  adoption  and  rapid  spread 
of  the  modem  railway  system. 

This  road,  which  was  built  in  the  hope  of  securing  400 
passengers  per  day,  almost  immediately  averaged  1,200,  and 
in  five  years  reported  500,000  passengers  for  the  year.1  The 
success  of  this  road  insured  the  general  introduction  of 
railroads,  and  from  this  time  forward  there  was  never  a 

1  Smiles. 


STEAM-LOCOMOTION   ON  RAILROADS.  201 

doubt  of  their  ultimate  adoption  to  the  exclusion  of  every 
other  system  of  general  internal  communication  and  trans- 
portation. 

For  some  years  after  this  his  first  great  triumph,  George 
Stephenson  gave  his  whole  time  to  the  building  of  railroads 
and  the  improvement  of  the  engine.  He  was  assisted  by 
his  son  Robert,  to  whom  he  gradually  surrendered  his  busi- 
ness, and  retired  to  Tapton  House,  on  the  Midland  Railway, 
and  led  a  busy  but  pleasant  life  during  the  remaining  years 
of  his  existence. 

Even  as  early  as  1840,  he  seems  to  have  projected  many 
improvements  which  were  only  generally  adopted  many 
years  later.  He  proposed  self-acting  and  continuous  sys- 
tems of  brake,  and  considered  a  good  system  of  brake  of  so 
great  importance,  that  he  advocated  their  compulsory  intro- 
duction by  State  legislation.  He  advised  moderate  speeds, 
from  considerations  both  of  safety  and  of  expense. 

A  few  years  after  the  opening  of  the  Liverpool  & 
Manchester  road,  great  numbers  of  schemes  were  proposed 
by  ignorant  or  designing  men,  which  had  for  their  object 
the  filling  of  the  pockets  of  their  proposers  rather  than  the 
benefit  of  the  stockholders  and  the  public  ;  and  the  Ste- 
phensons  were  often  called  upon  to  combat  these  crude  and 
ill-digested  plans.  Among  these  was  the  pneumatic  system 
of  propulsion,  already  referred  to  as  first  proposed  by  Papin, 
in  combination  with  his  double-acting  air-pump,  in  1687. 
It  had  been  again  proposed  in  the  early  part  of  the  present 
century  by  Medhurst,  who  proposed  a  method  of  pneumatic 
transmission  of  small  parcels  and  of  letters,  which  is  now 
in  use,  and,  15  years  later,  a  railroad  to  take  the  place  of 
that  of  Stephenson  and  his  coadjutors.  The  most  success- 
ful of  several  attempts  to  introduce  this  method  was  that 
of  Clegg  &  Samuda,  at  West  London,  and  on  the  London 
&  Croydon  road,  and  again  in  Ireland,  between  Kings- 
town and  Dalkey.  A  line  of  pipe,  B  B,  seen  in  Fig.  56, 
two  feet  in  diameter,  was  laid  between  the  rails,  A  A,  of 


202 


THE   MODERX  STEAM-ENGINE. 


the  road.  This  pipe  was  fitted  with  a  nicely-packed  piston, 
carrying  a  strong  arm,  which  rose  through  a  slit  made  along 
the  top  of  the  pipe,  and  covered  by  a  flexible  strip  of 
leather,  E E.  This  arm  was  attached  to  the  carriage,  C  C, 


FIG.  56. — The  Atmospheric  Railroad. 

to  be  propelled.  The  pressure  of  the  atmosphere  being  re- 
moved, by  the  action  of  a  powerful  pump,  from  the  side 
toward  which  the  train  was  to  advance,  the  pressure  of  the 
atmosphere  on  the  opposite  side  drove  the  piston  forward, 
carrying  the  train  with  it.  Stephenson  was  convinced, 
after  examining  the  plans  of  the  projectors,  that  the  scheme 
would  fail,  and  so  expressed  himself.  Those  who  favored 
it,  however,  had  sufficient  influence  with  capitalists  to  secure 
repeated  trials,  although  each  Avas  followed  by  failure,  and 
it  was  several  years  before  the  last  was  heard  of  this  system. 
A  considerable  portion  of  several  of  the  later  years  of 
Stephenson's  life  was  spent  in  traveling  in  Europe,  partly 
on  business  and  partly  for  pleasure.  During  a  visit  to  Bel- 
gium in  1845,  he  was  received  everywhere,  and  by  all 


STEAM-LOCOMOTION   ON   RAILROADS.  203 

classes,  from  the  king  down  to  the  humblest  of  his  subjects, 
with  such  distinction  as  is  rarely  accorded  even  to  the 
greatest  men.  He  soon  after  visited  Spain  with  Sir  Joshua 
Walmsley,  to  report  on  a  proposed  railway  from  the  capital 
to  the  Bay  of  Biscay.  On  this  journey  he  was  taken  ill, 
and  his  health  was  permanently  impaired.  Thenceforward 
he  devoted  himself  principally  to  the  direction  of  his  own 
property,  which  had  become  very  considerable,  and  spent 
much  of  his  time  at  the  collieries  and  other  works  in  which 
he  had  invested  it.  His  son  had  now  entirely  relieved  him 
of  all  business  connected  with  railroads,  and  he  had  leisure 
to  devote  to  self -improvement  and  social  amusement.  Among 
his  friends  he  claimed  Sir  Robert  Peel,  his  old  acquaintance, 
now  Sir  William,  Fairbaim,  Dr.  Buckland,  and  many  others 
of  the  distinguished  men  of  that  time. 

In  August,  1848,  Stephenson  was  attacked  with  inter- 
mittent fever,  succeeded  by  haemorrhage  from  the  lungs,  and 
died  on  the  12th  of  that  month,  at  the  age  of  sixty-six 
years,  honored  of  all  men,  and  secure  of  an  undying  fame. 
Soon  after  his  death,  statues  were  erected  at  Liverpool, 
London,  and  Newcastle,  the  cost  of  the  second  of  which 
was  defrayed  by  private  subscriptions,  including  a  contri- 
bution of  about  $1,500  by  3,150  workingmen — one  of  the 
finest  tributes  ever  offered  to  the  memory  of  a  great  man. 

But  the  noblest  monument  is  that  which  he  himself 
erected  by  the  establishment  of  a  system  of  education  and 
protection  of  his  working-people  at  Clay  Cross.  He  made  it 
a  condition  of  employment  that  every  employe  should  con- 
tribute from  five  to  twelve  pence  each  fortnight  to  a  fund, 
to  which  the  works  also  made  liberal  contributions.  From 
that  fund  it  was  directed  that  the  expenses  of  free  education 
of  the  children  of  the  work-people,  night-schools  for  those 
employed  in  the  works,  a  reading-room  and  library,  medical 
treatment,  and  a  benevolent  fund  were  to  be  defrayed. 
Music  and  cricket-clubs,  and  prize  funds  for  the  best  gar- 
den, were  also  founded.  The  school,  public  hall,  and  the 


204 


THE   MODERN   STEAM-ENGINE. 


church  of  Clay  Cross,  and  this  noble  system  of  support,  are 
together  a  nobler  monument  than  any  statue  or  similar 
structure  could  be. 

The  character  of  George  Stephenson  was  in  every  way 
admirable.  Simple,  earnest,  and  honorable  ;  courageous, 
indomitable,  and  industrious  ;  humorous,  kind,  and  philan- 
thropic, his  memory  will  long  be  cherished,  and  will  long 
prove  an  incentive  to  earnest  effort  and  to  the  pursuit  of  an 
honorable  fame  with  hundreds  of  the  youth  who,  reading 
his  simple  yet  absorbing  story,  as  told  by  his  biographer, 
shall  in  later  years  learn  to  know  him. 


Fio.  57.— Stephenson's  Locomotive,  1883. 

After  the  death  of  his  father,  Robert  Stephenson  con- 
tinued, as  he  had  already  done  for  several  years,  to  conduct 
the  business  of  building  locomotives,  as  well  as  of  construct- 
ing railroads.  The  work  of  locomotive  engine-building  was 
done  at  Newcastle,  and  for  many  years  those  works  were 
the  principal  engine-building  establishment  of  the  world. 


STEAM-LOCOMOTION   ON  RAILROADS.  2Q5 

After  their  introduction  on  the  Liverpool  &  Manches- 
ter road,  the  engines  of  the  firm  of  Robert  Stephenson  & 
Co.  were  rapidly  modified,  until  they  assumed  the  form 
shown  in  Fig.  57,  which  remained  standard  until  their 
gradual  increase  in  weight  compelled  the  builders  to  place 
a  larger  number  of  wheels  beneath  them,  and  make  those 
other  changes  which  finally  resulted  in  the  creation  of  dis- 
tinct types  for  special  kinds  of  work.  In  the  engine  of 
1833,  as  shown  above,  the  cylinders,  A,  are  carried  at  the 
extreme  forward  end  of  the  boiler,  and  the  driving-wheels, 
J5,  are  coupled  directly  to  the  connecting-rod  of  the  engine 
and  to  each  other.  A  buffer,  (7,  extends  in  front,  and  the 
rear  end  of  the  boiler  is  formed  into  a  rectangular  fire-box, 
D,  continuous  with  the  shell,  E,  and  the  flame  and  gases 
pass  to  the  connection  and  smoke-pipe,  f]  G,  through  a 
large  number  of  small  tubes,  a.  Steam  is  led  to  the  cylin- 
ders by  a  steam-pipe,  If  If',  to  which  it  is  admitted  by  the 
throttle- valve,  b.  A  steam-dome,  I,  from  which  the  steam 
is  taken,  assists  by  giving  more  steam-space  far  above  the 
water-line,  and  thus  furnishing  dry  steam.  The  exhaust 
steam  issues  with  great  velocity  into  the  chimney  from  the 
pipe,  J,  giving  great  intensity  of  draught.  The  engine- 
driver  stands  on  the  platform,  IT,  from  which  all  the  valves 
and  handles  are  accessible.  Feed-pumps,  _£,  supply  the 
boiler  with  water,  which  is  drawn  from  the  tender  through 
the  pipes,  e,f. 

The  valve-gear  was  then  substantially  what  it  is  to-day, 
the  "  Stephenson  link*  (Fig.  58).  On  the  driving-axle  were 
keyed  two  eccentrics,  E,  so  set  that  the  motion  of  the  one 
was  adapted  to  driving  the  valve  when  the  engine  was  mov- 
ing forward,  and  the  other  was  arranged  to  move  the  valve 
when  running  backward.  The  former  was  connected, 
through  its  strap  and  the  rod,  _Z?,  to  the  upper  end  of  a 
"  strap-link,"  A,  while  the  second  was  similarly  connected 
with  the  lower  end.  By  means  of  a  handle,  L,  and  the  link, 
n,  and  its  connections,  including  the  counterweighted  bell- 


206 


THE   MODERN    STEAM-ENGINE. 


crank,  M,  this  link  could  be  raised  or  depressed,  thus 
bringing  the  pin  on  the  link-block,  to  which  the  valve- 
stem  was  connected,  into  action  with  either  eccentric.  Or, 
the  link  being  set  in  mid-gear,  the  valve  would  cover  both 
steam-ports  of  the  cylinder,  and  the  engine  could  move 
neither  way.  As  shown,  the  engine  is  in  position  to  run 
backward.  A  series  of  notches,  Z,  into  either  of  which  a 


FIG.  58.— The  Stcphenson  Valve-Gear,  1833. 

catch  on  L  could  be  dropped,  enabled  the  driver  to  place 
the  link  where  he  chose.  In  intermediate  positions,  be- 
tween mid-gear  and  full -gear,  the  motion  of  the  valve  is 
such  as  to  produce  expansion  of  the  steam,  and  some  gain 
in  economy  of  working,  although  reducing  the  power  of  the 
engine. 

The  success  of  the  railroad  and  the  locomotive  in  Great 
Britain  led  to  its  rapid  introduction  in  other  countries.  In 
France,  as  early  as  1823,  M.  Beaunier  was  authorized  to 
construct  a  line  of  rails  from  the  coal-mines  of  St.  fitienne 
to  the  Loire,  using  horses  for  the  traction  of  his  trains  ;  and 
in  1826,  MM.  Seguin  began  a  road  from  St.  litienne  to 
Lyons.  In  1832,  engines  built  at  Lyons  were  substituted 
for  horses  on  these  roads,  but  internal  agitations  interrupted 
the  progress  of  the  new  system  in  France,  and,  for  10  years 
after  the  opening  of  the  Manchester  &  Liverpool  road, 
France  remained  without  steam-transportation  on  land. 

In  Belgium  the  introduction  of  the  locomotive  was  more 


STEAM-LOCOMOTION   ON   RAILROADS.  207 

promptly  accomplished.  Under  the  direction  of  Pierre 
Simon,  an  enterprising  and  well-informed  young  engineer, 
who  had  become  known  principally  as  an  advocate  of  the 
even  then  familiar  project  of  a  canal  across  the  Isthmus  of 
Darien,  very  complete  plans  of  railroad  communication  for 
the  kingdom  were  prepared,  in  compliance  with  a  decree 
dated  July  31,  1834,  and  were  promptly  authorized.  The 
road  between  Brussels  and  Mechlin  was  opened  May  6, 
1837,  and  other  roads  were  soon  built ;  and  the  railway  sys- 
tem of  Belgium  was  the  first  on  the  Continent  of  Europe. 

The  first  German  railroad  worked  with  locomotive  steam- 
engines  was  that  between  Nuremberg  and  Furth,  built  un- 
der the  direction  of  M.  Denis.  The  other  European  coun- 
tries soon  followed  in  this  rapid  march  of  improvement. 

In  the  United  States,  public  attention  had  been  directed 
to  this  subject,  as  has  already  been  stated,  very  early  in  the 
present  century,  by  Evans  and  Stevens.  At  that  time  the 
people  of  the  United  States,  as  was  natural,  closely  watched 
every  important  series  of  events  in  the  mother-country ; 
and  so  remarkable  and  striking  a  change  as  that  which  was 
taking  place  in  the  time  of  Stephenson,  in  methods  of  com- 
munication and  transportation,  could  not  fail  to  attract 
general  attention  and  awaken  universal  interest. 

Notwithstanding  the  success  of  the  early  experiments  of 
Evans  and  others,  and  in  spite  of  the  statesman-like  argu- 
ments of  Stevens  and  Dearborn,  and  the  earnest  advocacy 
of  the  plan  by  all  who  were  familiar  with  the  revelations 
which  were  daily  made  of  the  power  and  capabilities  of  the 
steam-engine,  it  was  not  until  after  the  opening  of  the  Man- 
chester &  Liverpool  road  that  any  action  was  taken  look- 
ing to  the  introduction  of  the  locomotive.  Colonel  John 
Stevens,  in  1825,  had  built  a  small  locomotive,  which  he 
had  placed  on  a  circular  railway  before  his  house — now 
Hudson  Terrace — at  Hoboken,  to  prove  that  his  statements 
had  a  basis  of  fact.  This  engine  had  two  "  lantern  "  tubu- 
lar boilers,  each  composed  of  small  iron  tubes,  arranged 


208  THE   MODERN    STEAM-ENGINE. 

vertically  in  circles  about  the  furnaces.1  This  exhibition 
had  no  other  effect,  however,  than  to  create  some  interest 
in  the  subject,  which  aided  in  securing  a  rapid  adoption  of 
the  railroad  when  once  introduced. 

The  first  line  of  rails  in  the  New  England  States  is 
said  to  have  been  laid  down  at  Quincy,  Mass.,  from  the 
granite  quarry  to  the  Neponset  River,  three  miles  away,  in 
1826  and  1827.  That  between  the  coal-mines  of  Mauch 
Chunk,  Pa.,  and  the  river  Lehigh,  nine  miles  distant,  was 
built  in  1827.  In  the  following  year  the  Delaware  & 
Hudson  Canal  Company  built  a  railroad  from  their  mines 
to  the  termination  of  the  canal  at  Honesdale.  These  roads 
were  worked  either  by  gravity  or  by  horses  and  mules. 

The  competition  at  Rainhill,  on  the  Liverpool  and  Man- 
chester Railroad,  had  been  so  widely  advertised,  and  prom- 
ised to  afford  such  conclusive  evidence  relative  to  the  value 
of  the  locomotive  steam-engine  and  the  railroad,  that  engi- 
neers and  others  interested  in  the  subject  came  from  all 
parts  of  the  world  to  witness  the  trial.  Among  the  stran- 
gers present  were  Mr.  Horatio  Allen,  then  chief -engineer  of 
the  Delaware  &  Hudson  Canal  Company,  and  Mr.  E.  L. 
Miller,  a  resident  of  Charleston,  S.  C.,  who  went  from  the 
United  States  for  the  express  purpose  of  seeing  the  new 
machines  tested. 

Mr.  Allen  had  been  authorized  to  purchase,  for  the  com- 
pany with  which  he  was  connected,  three  locomotives  and 
the  iron  for  the  road,  and  had  already  shipped  one  engine 
to  the  United  States,  and  had  set  it  at  work  on  the  road. 
This  engine  was  received  in  New  York  in  May,  1829,  and 
its  trial  took  place  in  August  at  Honesdale,  Mr.  Allen  him- 
self driving  the  engine.  But  the  track  proved  too  light  for 
the  locomotive,  and  it  was  laid  up  and  never  set  at  regular 
work.  This  engine  was  called  the  "  Stourbridge  Lion  "  ;  it 
was  built  by  Foster,  Rastrick  &  Co.,  of  Stourbridge,  Eng- 

1  One  of  these  sectional  boilers  is  still  preserved  in  the  lecture-room 
of  the  author,  at  the  Stevens  Institute  of  Technology. 


STEAM-LOCOMOTION   ON   RAILROADS.  209 

land.  During  the  summer  of  the  next  year,  a  small  experi- 
mental engine,  which  was  built  in  1829  by  Peter  Cooper, 
of  New  York,  was  successfully  tried  on  the  Baltimore  <fc 
Ohio  Railroad,  at  Baltimore,  making  13  miles  in  less  than 
an  hour,  and  moving,  at  some  points  on  the  road,  at  the  rate 
of  18  miles  an  hour.  One  carriage  carrying  36  passengers 
was  attached.  This  was  considered  a  working-model  only, 
and  was  rated  at  one  horse-power. 

Ross  Winans,  writing  of  this  trial  of  Cooper's  engine, 
makes  a  comparison  with  the  work  done  by  Stephenson's 
"  Rocket,"  and  claims  a  decided  superiority  for  the  former. 
He  concluded  that  the  trial  established  fully  the  practica- 
bility of  using  locomotives  on  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  road 
at  high  speeds,  and  on  all  its  curves  and  heavy  gradients, 
without  inconvenience  or  danger. 

This  engine  had  a  vertical  tubular  boiler,  and  the  draught 
was  urged,  like  that  of  the  "  Novelty "  at  Liverpool,  by  me- 
chanical means — a  revolving  fan.  The  single  steam-cylin- 
der was  3£  inches  in  diameter,  and  the  stroke  of  piston  14£ 
inches.  The  wheels  were  30  inches  in  diameter,  and  con- 
nected to  the  crank-shaft  by  gearing.  The  engine,  on  the 
trial,  worked  up  to  1.43  horse-power,  and  drew  a  gross 
weight  of  4£  tons.  Mr.  Cooper,  unable  to  find  such  tubes 
as  he  needed  for  his  boiler,  used  gun-barrels.  The  whole 
machine  weighed  less  than  a  ton. 

Messrs.  Davis  &  Gartner,  a  little  later,  built  the  "  York  " 
for  this  road — a  locomotive  having  also  a  vertical  boiler,  of 
very  similar  form  to  the  modern  steam  fire-engine  boiler,  51 
inches  in  diameter,  and  containing  282  fire-tubes,  16  inches 
long,  and  tapering  from  l£  inches  diameter  at  the  bottom 
to  1£  at  the  top,  where  the  gases  were  discharged  through 
a  combustion-chamber  into  a  steam-chimney.  This  engine 
weighed  3-^  tons. 

They  subsequently  built  several  "  grasshopper  "  engines 
(Fig.  59),  some  of  which  ran  many  years,  doing  good  work, 
and  one  or  two  of  which  are  still  in  existence.  The  first — 


210 


THE   MODERN   STEAM-ENGINE. 


the  "Atlantic" — was  set  at  work  in  September,  1832,  and 
hauled  50  tons  from  Baltimore  40  miles,  over  gradients  hav- 
ing a  maximum  rise  of  37  feet  to  the  mile,  and  on  curves 
having  a  minimum  radius  of  400  feet,  at  the  rate  of  12  to 
15  miles  an  hour.  This  engine  weighed  G^  tons,  carried  50 
pounds  of  steam — a  pressure  then  common  on  both  continents 


>.— The  "Atlantic,"  1832. 


— and  burned  a  ton  of  anthracite  coal  on  the  round  trip. 
The  blast  was  secured  by  a  fan,  and  the  valve-gear  was 
worked  by  cams  instead  of  eccentrics.  This  engine  made 
the  round  trip  at  a  cost  of  $16,  doing  the  work  of  42  horses, 
which  had  cost  $33  per  trip.  The  engine  cost  $4,500,  and 
was  designed  by  Phineas  Davis,  assisted  by  Ross  Winans. 

Mr.  Miller,  on  his  return  from  the  Liverpool  &  Man- 
chester trial,  ordered  a  locomotive  for  the  Charleston  & 
Hamburg  Railroad  from  the  West  Point  Foundery.  This 


STEAM-LOCOMOTION   ON   RAILROADS.  21 1 

engine  was  guaranteed  by  Mr.  Miller  to  draw  three  times 
its  weight  at  the  rate  of  10  miles  an  hour.  It  was  built 
during  the  summer  of  1830,  from  the  plans  of  Mr.  Miller, 
and  reached  Charleston  in  October.  The  trials  were  made 
in  November  and  December. 

This  engine  (Fig.  60)  had  a  vertical  tubular  boiler,  in 
which  the  gases  rose  through  a  very  high  fire-box,  into 
which  large  numbers  of  rods  projected  from  the  sides  and 
top,  and  passed  out  through  tubes  leading  them  laterally 
outward  into  an  outside  jacket,  through  which  they  rose  to 
the  chimney.  The  steam-cylinders  were  two  in  number, 
8  inches  in  diameter  and  of  16  inches  stroke,  inclined  so  as 
to  connect  with  the  driving-axle.  The  four  wheels  were  all 
of  the  same  size,  4£  feet  in  diameter,  and  connected  by 


Fio.  60.— The  "  Best  Friend,"  1830. 


coupling-rods.  The  engine  weighed  4£  tons.  The  "  Best 
Friend,"  as  it  was  called,  did  excellent  work  until  June, 
1831,  when  the  explosion  of  the  boiler,  in  consequence  of  the 
recklessness  of  the  fireman,  unexpectedly  closed  its  career. 


212  THE    MODERN   STEAM-ENGINE. 

A  second  engine  (Fig.  61)  was  built  for  this  road,  at  the 
West  Point  Foundeiy,  from  plans  furnished  by  Horatio 
Allen,  and  was  received  and  set  at  work  early  in  the  spring 


Fio.  61.— The  "West  Point,"  1881. 

of  1831.  The  engine,  called  the  "  West  Point,"  had  a  hori- 
zontal tubular  boiler,  but  was  in  other  respects  very  similar 
to  the  "  Best  Friend."  It  is  said  to  have  done  very  good 
work. 

The  Mohawk  &  Hudson  Railroad  ordered  an  engine 
at  about  this  time,  also,  of  the  West  Point  Foundery,  and 
the  trials,  made  in  July  and  August,  1831,  proved  thorough- 
ly successful. 

This  engine,  the  "  De  Witt  Clinton,"  was  contracted  for 
by  John  B.  Jervis,  and  fitted  up  by  David  Matthew.  It 
had  two  steam-cylinders,  each  5^  inches  in  diameter  and  16 
inches  stroke  of  piston.  The  connecting-rods  were  directly 


STEAM-LOCOMOTION   ON   RAILROADS.  213 

attached  to  a  cranked  axle,  and  turned  four  coupled  wheels 
4£  feet  in  diameter.  These  wheels  had  cast-iron  hubs  and 
wrought-iron  spokes  and  tires.  The  tubes  were  of  copper, 
2$  inches  in  diameter  and  6  feet  long.  The  engine  weighed 
3£  tons,  and  hauled  5  cars  at  the  rate  of  30  miles  an  hour. 

Another  engine,  the  "South  Carolina"  (Fig.  62),  was 
designed  by  Horatio  Allen  for  the  South  Carolina  Railroad, 
and  completed  late  in  the  year  1831.  This  was  the  first 
eight-wheeled  engine,  and  the  prototype,  also,  of  a  peculiar 
and  lately-revived  form  of  engine. 

In  the  summer  of  1832,  an  engine  built  by  Messrs.  Davis 
&  Gartner,  of  York,  Pa.,  was  put  on  the  Baltimore  & 
Ohio  road,  which  at  times  attained  a  speed,  unloaded,  of  30 
miles  an  hour.  The  engine  weighed  3£  tons,  and  drew, 
usually,  4  cars,  weighing  altogether  14  tons,  from  Baltimore 
to  Ellicott's  Mills,  a  distance  of  13  miles,  in  the  schedule- 
time,  one  hour. 


FIG.  62.— The  "  South  Carolina,"  1831. 


Horatio  Allen's  engine  on  the  South  Carolina  Railroad 
is  said  to  have  been  the  first  eight-wheeled  engine  ever  built. 

It  was  at  about  the  time  of  which  we  are  now  writing 
that  the  first  locomotive  was  built  of  what  is  now  distinc- 


214  THE    MODERN   STEAM-ENGINE. 

tively  known  as  the  American  type — an  engine  with  a 
"  truck  "  or  "  bogie  "  under  the  forward  end  of  the  boiler. 
This  was  the  "American"  No.  1,  built  at  the  West  Point 
Foundery,  from  plans  furnished  by  John  B.  Jervis,  Chief 
Engineer,  for  the  Mohawk  &  Hudson  Railroad.  Ross 
Winans  had  already  (1831)  introduced  the  passenger-car 
with  swiveling  trucks.1  It  was  completed  in  August,  1832, 
and  is  said  by  Mr.  Matthew  to  have  been  an  extremely  fast 
and  smooth-running  engine.  A  mile  a  minute  was  repeat- 
edly attained,  and  it  is  stated  by  the  same  authority,2  that 
a  speed  of  80  miles  an  hour  was  sometimes  made  over  a 
single  mile.  This  engine  had  cylinders  9£  inches  diameter, 
16  inches  stroke  of  piston,  two  pairs  of  driving-wheels, 
coupled,  5  feet  in  diameter  each  ;  and  the  truck  had  four 
33-inch  wheels.  The  boiler  contained  tubes  3  inches  in  di- 
ameter, and  its  fire-box  was  5  feet  long  and  2  feet  10  inches 
wide.  Robert  Stephenson  &  Co.  subsequently  built  a  simi- 
lar engine,  from  the  plans  of  Mr.  Jervis,  and  for  the  same 
road.  It  was  set  at  work  in  1833.  In  both  engines  the 
driving-wheels  were  behind  the  fire-box.  This  engine  is 
another  illustration  of  the  fact — shown  by  the  description 
already  given  of  other  and  earlier  engines — that  the  inde- 
pendence of  the  American  mechanic,  and  the  boldness  and 
self-confidence  which  have  to  the  present  time  distinguished 
him,  were  among  the  earliest  of  the  fruits  of  our  political 
independence  and  freedom. 

These  American  engines  were  all  designed  to  burn  an- 
thracite coal.  The  English  locomotives  all  burned  bitu- 
minous coal. 

Robert  L.  Stevens,  the  President  and  Engineer  of  the 
Camden  &  Amboy  Railroad,  and  a  distinguished  son  of 
Colonel  John  Stevens,  of  Hoboken,  was  engaged,  at  the 
time  of  the  opening  of  the  Liverpool  &  Manchester  Rail- 

1  "  History  of  the  First  Locomotives  in  America,"  Brown. 
*  "  Ross  Wiuans  vs.  The  Eastern  Railroad  Company — Evidence."     Bos- 
ton, 1854. 


STEAM-LOCOMOTION   ON   RAILROADS.  215 

road,  in  the  construction  of  the  Camden  &  Amboy  Rail- 
road. It  was  here  that  the  first  of  the  now  standard  form 
of  T-rail  was  laid  down.  It  was  of  malleable  iron,  and  of 


FIG.  63.— The  "Stevens"  Bail  Enlarged  Section. 

the  form  shown  in  the  accompanying  figure.  It  was  de- 
signed by  Mr.  Stevens,  and  is  known  in  the  United  States 
as  the  "  Stevens  "  rail.  In  Europe,  where  it  was  introduced 
some  years  afterward,  it  is  sometimes  called  the  "  Vignolles  " 
rail.  He  purchased  an  engine  of  the  Stephensons  soon  after 
the  trial  at  Rainhill,  and  this  engine,  the  "  John  Bull,"  was 
set  up  on  the  then  uncompleted  road  at  Bordentown,  in  the 
year  1831.  Its  first  public  trial  was  made  in  November  of 
that  year.  The  road  was  opened  for  traffic,  from  end  to 
end,  two  years  later.  This  engine  had  steam-cylinders  9 
inches  in  diameter,  2  feet  stroke  of  piston,  one  pair  of  driv- 
ers 4|  feet  in  diameter,  and  weighed  10  tons.  This  engine, 
and  that  built  by  Phineas  Davis  for  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio 
Railroad,  were  exhibited  at  the  Centennial  Exhibition  at 
Philadelphia,  in  the  year  1876. 

Engines  supplied  to  the  Camden  &  Amboy  Railroad 
subsequent  to  1831  were  built  from  the  designs  of  Rob- 
ert L.  Stevens,  in  the  shop  of  the  Messrs.  Stevens,  at 
Hoboken.  The  other  principal  roads  of  the  country,  at 
first,  very  generally  purchased  their  engines  of  the  Baldwin 
Locomotive  Works,  then  a  small  shop  owned,  by  Matthias 
W.  Baldwin.  Baldwin's  first  engine  was  a  little  model 
built  for  Peale's  Museum,  to  illustrate  to  the  visitors  of  that 
then  well-known  place  of  entertainment  the  character  of  the 
11 


216 


THE    MODERN   STEAM-ENGINE. 


new  motor,  the  success  of  which,  at  Rainhill,  had  just  then 
excited  the  attention  of  the  world.  This  was  in  1831,  and 
the  successful  working  of  this  little  model  led  to  his  re- 
ceiving an  order  for  an  engine  from  the  Philadelphia  & 
Germantown  Railroad.  Mr.  Baldwin,  after  studying  the 
new  engine  of  the  Camden  &  Amboy  road,  made  his  plans, 
and  built  an  engine  (Fig.  64),  completing  it  in  the  autumn 
of  1832,  and  setting  it  in  operation  November  23d  of  that 
year.  It  was  kept  at  work  on  that  line  of  road  for  a  period 
of  20  years  or  more.  This  engine  was  of  Stephenson's 
"  Planet "  class,  mounted  on  two  driving-wheels  4£  feet  in 
diameter  each,  and  two  separate  wheels  of  the  same  size, 
uncoupled.  The  steam-cylinders  were  9£  inches  in  diame- 
ter, 18  inches  stroke  of  piston,  and  were  placed  horizontally 
on  each  side  of  the  smoke-box.  The  boiler,  2|  feet  in  diam- 
eter, contained  72  copper  tubes  1£  inches  in  diameter  and  7 
feet  long.  The  engine  cost  the  railroad  company  $3,500. 


FIG.  04.—"  Old  Ironsides,"  1832. 


On  the  trial,  steam  was  raised  in  20  minutes,  and  the  maxi- 
mum speed  noted  was  28  miles  an  hour.  The  engine  sub- 
sequently attained  a  speed  of  over  30  miles.  In  1834,  Mr. 


STEAM-LOCOMOTION   ON  RAILROADS. 


217 


Baldwin  completed  for  Mr.  E.  L.  Miller,  of  Charleston,  a 
six-wheeled  engine,  the  "  E.  L.  Miller  "  (Fig.  65),  with  cyl- 
inders 10  inches  in  diameter  and  16  inches  stroke  of  piston. 


FIG.  65.— The  "E.  L.  Miller,"  1884. 

He  made  the  boiler  of  this  engine  of  a  form  which  remained 
standard  many  years,  with  a  high  dome  over  the  fire-box. 
At  about  the  same  time,  he  built  the  "  Lancaster,"  an  engine 
resembling  the  "Miller,"  for  the  State  road  to  Columbia, 
and  several  others  were  soon  contracted  for  and  built.  By 
the  end  of  1834,  5  engines  had  been  built  by  him,  and  the 
construction  of  locomotive-engines  had  become  one  of  the 
leading  and  most  promising  industries  of  the  United  States. 
Mr.  William  Norris  established  a  shop  in  Philadelphia  in 
1832,  which  he  gradually  enlarged  until  it,  like  the  Bald- 
win Works,  became  a  large  establishment.  He  usually 
built  a  six-wheeled  engine,  with  a  leading-truck  or  bogie, 
and  placed  his  driving-wheels  in  front  of  the  fire-box. 

At  this  time  the  English  locomotives  were  built  to  carry 
60  pounds  of  steam.  The  American  builders  adopted  press- 
ures of  120  to  130  pounds  per  square  inch,  the  now  general- 
ly standard  pressures  throughout  the  world.  In  the  years 
1836  and  1837,  Baldwin  built  80  engines.  They  were  of 
three  classes  :  1st,  with  cylinders  12£  inches  in  diameter 
and  of  16  inches  stroke,  weighing  12  tons  ;  2d,  with  cylin- 


218  THE    MODERN   STEAM-ENGINE. 

ders  12  by  16,  and  a  weight  of  10£  tons  ;  and  3d,  engines 
weighing  9  tons,  and  having  steam-cylinders  of  10£  inches 
diameter  and  of  the  same  stroke.  The  driving-wheels  were 
usually  4£  feet  in  diameter,  and  the  cylinder  "inside-con- 
nected "  to  cranked  axles.  A  few  "  outside-connected  "  en- 
gines were  made,  this  plan  becoming  generally  adopted  at 
a  later  period. 

The  railroads  of  the  United  States  were  very  soon  sup- 
plied with  locomotive-engines  built  in  America.  In  the 
year  1836,  William  Norris,  who  had  two  years  before  pur- 
chased the  interest  of  Colonel  Stephen  H.  Long,  an  army- 
officer  who  patented  and  built  locomotives  of  his  own  de- 
sign, built  the  "  George  Washington,"  and  set  it  at  work. 
This  engine,  weighing  14,400  pounds,  drew  19,200  pounds 
up  an  incline  2,800  feet  long,  rising  369  feet  to  the  mile,  at 
the  speed  of  15^  miles  an  hour.  This  showed  an  adhesion 
not  far  from  one-third  the  weight  on  the  driving-wheels. 
This  was  considered  a  very  wonderful  performance,  and  it 
produced  such  an  impression  at  the  time,  that  several  copies 
of  the  "  George  Washington "  were  made,  on  orders  from 
British  railroads,  and  the  result  was  the  establishment  of 
the  reputation  of  the  locomotive-engine  builders  of  the 
United  States  upon  a  foundation  which  has  never  since 
failed  them.  The  engine  had  Jervis's  forward-truck,  now 
always  seen  under  standard  engines,  which  had  already  been 
placed  under  railroad-cars  by  Ross  Winans. 

In  New  England,  the  Locks  &  Canals  Company,  of 
Lowell,  began  building  engines  as  early  as  1834,  copying 
the  Stephenson  engine.  Hinckley  &  Drury,  of  Boston, 
commenced  building  an  outside-connected  engine  in  1840, 
and  their  successors,  the  Boston  Locomotive  Works,  became 
the  largest  manufacturing  establishment  of  the  kind  in  New 
England.  Two  years  later,  Ross  Winans,  the  Baltimore 
builder,  introduced  some  of  his  engines  upon  Eastern  rail- 
roads, fitting  them  with  upright  boilers,  and  burning  an- 
thracite coal. 


STEAM-LOCOMOTION   ON   RAILROADS.  219 

The  changes  which  have  been  outlined  produced  the 
now  typical  American  locomotive.  It  was  necessarily  given 
such  form  that  it  would  work  safely  and  efficiently  on  rough, 
ill-ballasted,  and  often  sharply-winding  tracks  ;  and  thus  it 
soon  became  evident  that  the  two  pairs  of  coupled  driving- 
wheels,  carrying  two-thirds  the  weight  of  the  whole  engine, 
the  forward-truck,  and  the  system  of  "  equalizing  "  suspen- 
sion-bars, by  which  the  weight  is  distributed  fairly  among 
all  the  wheels,  whatever  the  position  of  the  engine,  or  what- 
ever the  irregularity  of  the  track,  made  it  the  very  best  of 
all  known  types  of  locomotive  for  the  railroads  of  a  new 
country.  Experience  has  shown  it  equally  excellent  on  the 
smoothest  and  best  of  roads.  The  "cow-catcher,"  placed 
in  front  to  remove  obstacles  from  the  track,  the  bell,  and 
the  heavy  whistle,  are  characteristics  of  the  American  en- 
gine also.  The  severity  of  winter-storms  compelled  the 
adoption  of  the  "  cab,"  or  house,  and  the  use  of  wood  for 
fuel  led  to  the  invention  of  the  "  spark-arrester "  for  that 
class  of  engines.  The  heavy  grades  on  many  roads  led  to 
the  use  of  the  "  sand-box,"  from  which  sand  was  sprinkled 
on  the  track,  to  prevent  the  slipping  of  the  wheels. 

In  the  year  1836,  the  now  standard  chilled  wheel  was 
introduced  for  cars  and  trucks  ;  the  single  eccentric,  which 
had  been,  until  then,  used  on  Baldwin  engines,  was  dis- 
placed by  the  double  eccentric,  with  hooks  in  place  of  the 
link  ;  and,  a  year  later,  the  iron  frame  took  the  place  of 
the  previously-used  wooden  frame  on  all  engines. 

The  year  1837  introduced  a  period  of  great  depression 
in  all  branches  of  industry,  which  continued  until  the  year 
1840,  or  later,  and  seriously  checked  all  kinds  of  manufac- 
turing, including  the  building  of  locomotives.  On  the  re- 
vival of  business,  numbers  of  new  locomotive-works  were 
started,  and  in  these  establishments  originated  many  new- 
types  of  engine,  each  of  the  more  successful  of  which  was 
adapted  to  some  peculiar  set  of  conditions.  This  variety  of 
type  is  still  seen  on  nearly  all  of  the  principal  roads. 


220 


THE    MODERN   STEAM-ENGINE. 


The  direction  of  change  in  the  construction  of  locomo- 
tive-engines at  the  period  at  which  this  division  of  the  sub- 
ject terminates  is  very  well  indicated  in  a  letter  from  Rob- 
ert Stephenson  to  Robert  L.  Stevens,  dated  1833,  which  is 
now  preserved  at  the  Stevens  Institute  of  Technology.  He 
writes  :  "  I  am  sorry  that  the  feeling  in  the  United  States 
in  favor  of  light  railways  is  so  general.  In  England  we  are 
making  every  succeeding  railway  stronger  and  more  sub- 
stantial." He  adds  :  "  Small  engines  are  losing  ground, 
and  large  ones  are  daily  demonstrating  that  powerful  en- 
gines are  the  most  economical."  He  gives  a  sketch  of  his 
latest  engine,  weighing  nine  tons,  and  capable,  as  he  states, 
of  "taking  100  tons,  gross  load,  at  the  rate  of  16  or  17  miles 
an  hour  on  a  level."  To-day  there  are  engines  built  weigh- 
ing 70  tons,  and  our  locomotive-builders  have  standard  sizes 
guaranteed  to  draw  over  2,000  tons  on  a  good  and  level 
track. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 

"  VOILA  la  plus  merveilleuse  de  toutes  les  Machines  ;  Ic  M6canisme  res- 
semble  &  celui  dcs  animaux.  La  chaleur  est  le  principe  de  son  mouvement ; 
il  se  fait  dans  ses  differens  tuyaux  une  circulation,  comme  celle  du  sang 
dans  les  veines,  ayant  des  valvules  qui  s'ouvrent  et  se  ferment  a  propos ; 
elles  se  nourrit,  s'evacue  d'clle  meme  dans  les  temps  regies,  et  tire  de  son  tra- 
vail tout  ce  qu'il  lui  faut  pour  subsister.  Cette  Machine  a  pris  sa  nais- 
sance  en  Angleterre,  et  toutes  les  Machines  h  feu  qu'on  a  construites  ailleura 
que  dans  la  Grande  Br6tagne  ont  etc  exScutees  par  des  Anglais." — BELIDOU. 

THE  SECOND  PERIOD  or  APPLICATION — 1800-1850  (CON- 
TINUED). THE  STEAM-ENGINE  APPLIED  TO  SHIP-PRO- 
PULSION. 

AMONG  the  most  obviously  important  and  most  inconceiv- 
ably fruitful  of  all  the  applications  of  steam  which  marked 
the  period  we  are  now  studying,  is  that  of  the  steam-en- 
gine to  the  propulsion  of  vessels.  This  direction  of  applica- 
tion has  been  that  which  has,  from  the  earliest  period  in 
the  history  of  the  steam-engine,  attracted  the  attention  of 
the  political  economist  and  the  historian,  as  well  as  the 
mechanician,  whenever  a  new  improvement,  or  the  revival 
of  an  old  device,  has  awakened  a  faint  conception  of  the 
possibilities  attendant  upon  the  introduction  of  a  machine 
capable  of  making  so  great  a  force  available.  The  realiza- 
tion of  the  hopes,  the  prophecies,  and  the  aspirations  of 
earlier  times,  in  the  modern  marine  steam-engine,  may  be 
justly  regarded  as  the  greatest  of  all  the  triumphs  of  me- 
chanical engineering.  Although,  as  has  already  been  stated, 


222  THE    MODERN    STEAM-ENGINE. 

attempts  were  made  at  a  very  early  period  to  effect  this 
application  of  steam-power,  they  were  not  successful,  and 
the  steamship  is  a  product  of  the  present  century.  No 
such  attempts  were  commercially  successful  until  after  the 
time  of  Newcomen  and  Watt,  and  at  the  commencement  of 
the  nineteenth  century.  It  is,  indeed,  but  a  few  years  since 
the  passage  across  the  Atlantic  was  frequently  made  in 
sailing-vessels,  and  the  dangers,  the  discomforts,  and  the 
irregularities  of  their  trips  were  most  serious.  Now,  hardly 
a  day  passes  that  does  not  see  several  large  and  powerful 
steamers  leaving  the  ports  of  New  York  and  Liverpool  to 
make  the  same  voyages,  and  their  passages  are  made  with 
such  regularity  and  safety,  that  travelers  can  anticipate  with 
confidence  the  time  of  their  arrival  at  the  termination  of 
their  voyage  to  a  day,  and  can  cross  with  safety  and  with 
comparative  comfort  even  amid  the  storms  of  winter.  Yet  all 
that  we  to-day  see  of  the  extent  and  the  efficiency  of  steam- 
navigation  has  been  the  work  of  the  present  century,  and  it 
may  well  excite  our  wonder  and  our  admiration. 

The  history  of  this  development  of  the  use  of  steam- 
power  illustrates  most  perfectly  that  process  of  growth  of 
this  invention  which  has  been  already  referred  to  ;  and 
we  can  here  trace  it,  step  by  step,  from  the  earliest  and 
rudest  devices  up  to  those  most  recent  and  most  perfect  de- 
signs which  represent  the  most  successful  existing  types  of 
the  heat-engine — whether  considered  with  reference  to  its 
design  and  construction,  or  as  the  highest  application  of 
known  scientific  principles — that  have  yet  been  seen  in  even 
the  present  advanced  state  of  the  mechanic  arts. 

The  paddle-wheel  was  used  as  a  substitute  for  oars  at  a 
very  early  date,  and  a  description  of  paddle-wheels  applied 
to  vessels,  curiously  illustrated  by  a  large  wood-cut,  may  be 
found  in  the  work  of  Fammelli,  "  De  Partificioses  machines," 
published  in  old  French  in  1588.  Clark1  quotes  from 

1  "Steam  and  the  Steam-Engine." 


STEAM-NAVIGATION.  223 

Ogilby's  edition  of  the  "Odyssey"  a  stanza  which  reads 
like  a  prophecy,  and  almost  awakens  a  belief  that  the 
great  poet  had  a  knowledge  of  steam-vessels  in  those  early 
times — a  thousand  years  before  the  Christian  era.  The 
prince  thus  addresses  Ulysses  : 

"  We  use  nor  Helm  nor  Helms-man.     Our  tall  ships 
Have  Souls,  and  plow  with  Reason  up  the  deeps ; 
All  cities,  Countries  know,  and  where  they  list, 
Through  billows  glide,  veiled  in  obscuring  Mist ; 
Nor  fear  they  Rocks,  nor  Dangers  on  the  way." 

Pope's  translation '  furnishes  the  following  rendering  of 
Homer's  prophecy  : 

"  So  shalt  thou  instant  reach  the  realm  assigned, 
In  wondrous  ships,  self-moved,  instinct  with  mind  ; 

*  *  *  *  * 

Though  clouds  and  darkness  veil  the  encumbered  sky, 
Fearless,  through  darkness  and  through  clouds  they  fly. 
Though  tempests  rage,  though  rolls  the  swelling  main, 
The  seas  may  roll,  the  tempests  swell  in  vain  ; 
E'en  the  stern  god  that  o'er  the  waves  presides, 
Safe  as  they  pass  and  safe  repass  the  tide, 
With  fury  burns ;  while,  careless,  they  convey 
Promiscuous  every  guest  to  every  bay." 

It  is  stated  that^  the  Roman  army  under  Claudius  Cau- 
dex  was  taken  across  to  Sicily  in  boats  propelled  by  paddle- 
wheels  turned  by  oxen.  Vulturius  gives  pictures  of  such 
vessels. 

This  application  of  the  force  of  steam  was  very  possibly 
anticipated  600  years  ago  by  Roger  Bacon,  the  learned 
Franciscan  monk,  who,  in  an  age  of  ignorance  and  intel- 
lectual torpor,  wrote  : 

"  I  will  now  mention  some  wonderful  works  of  art  and 
nature,  in  which  there  is  nothing  of  magic,  and  which  magic 

1  "Odyssey,"  Book  VIII.,  p.  175. 


224  THE   MODERN   STEAM-ENGINE. 

could  not  perform.  Instruments  may  be  made  by  which 
the  largest  ships,  with  only  one  man  guiding  them,  will  be 
carried  with  greater  velocity  than  if  they  were  full  of  sail- 
ors," etc.,  etc. 

Darwin's  poetical  prophecy  was  published  long  years 
before  Watt's  engine  rendered  its  partial  fulfillment  a  pos- 
sibility ;  and  thus,  for  many  years  before  even  the  first 
promising  effort  had  been  made,  the  minds  of  the  more  in- 
telligent had  been  prepared  to  appreciate  the  invention 
when  it  should  finally  be  brought  forward. 

The  earliest  attempt  to  propel  a  vessel  by  steam  is 
claimed  by  Spanish  authorities,  as  has  been  stated,  to  have 
been  made  by  Blasco  de  Garay,  in  the  harbor  of  Barcelona, 
Spain,  in  1543.  The  record,  claimed  as  having  been  ex- 
tracted from  the  Spanish  archives  at  Simancas,  states  the 
vessel  to  have  been  of  200  tons  burden,  and  to  have  been 
moved  by  paddle-wheels  ;  and  it  is  added  that  the  specta- 
tors saw,  although  not  allowed  closely  to  inspect  the  appa- 
ratus, that  one  part  of  it  was  a  "  vessel  of  boiling  water  "  ; 
and  it  is  also  stated  that  objection  was  made  to  the  use  of 
this  part  of  the  machine,  because  of  the  danger  of  explosion. 

The  account  seems  somewhat  apocryphal,  and  it  certain- 
ly led  to  no  useful  results. 

In  an  anonymous  English  pamphlet,  published  in  1651, 
which  is  supposed  by  Stuart  to  have  been  written  by  the 
Marquis  of  Worcester,  an  indefinite  reference  to  what  may 
probably  have  been  the  steam-engine  is  made,  and  it  is 
there  stated  to  be  capable  of  successful  application  to  pro- 
pelling boats. 

In  1690,  Papin  proposed  to  use  his  piston-engine  to 
drive  paddle-wheels  to  propel  vessels  ;  and  in  1707  he  ap- 
plied the  steam-engine,  which  he  had  proposed  as  a  pump- 
ing-engine,  to  driving  a  model  boat  on  the  Fulda  at  Cassel. 
In  this  trial  he  used  the  arrangement  of  which  a  sketch  has 
been  shown,  his  pumping-engine  forcing  up  water  to  turn  a 
water-wheel,  which,  in  turn,  was  made  to  drive  the  paddles. 


STEAM-NAVIGATION.  225 

An  account  of  his  experiments  is  to  be  found  in  manuscript 
in  the  correspondence  between  Leibnitz  and  Papin,  pre- 
served in  the  Royal  Library  at  Hanover.  Professor  Joy 
found  there  the  following  letter  : l 

"  Dionysius  Papin,  Councillor  and  Physician  to  his  Royal  Highness  the 
Elector  of  Cassel,  also  Professor  of  Mathematics  at  Marburg,  is  about  to 
dispatch  a  vessel  of  singular  construction  down  the  river  Wcser  to  Bremen. 
As  he  learns  that  all  ships  coming  from  Cassel,  or  any  point  on  the  Fulda, 
are  not  permitted  to  enter  the  Weser,  but  are  required  to  unload  at  Mun- 
den,  and  as  he  anticipates  some  difficulty,  although  those  vessels  have  a  dif- 
ferent object,  his  own  not  being  intended  for  freight,  he  begs  most  humbly 
that  a  gracious  order  be  granted  that  his  ship  may  be  allowed  to  pass  un- 
molested through  the  Electoral  domain ;  which  petition  I  most  humbly  sup- 
port. G.  W.  LEIBNITZ. 
"  HANOVEB,  July  18,  1707." 

This  letter  was  returned  to  Leibnitz,  with  the  following 
indorsement : 

"  The  Electoral  Councillors  have  found  serious  obstacles  in  the  way  of 
granting  the  above  petition,  and,  without  giving  their  reasons,  have  directed 
me  to  inform  you  of  their  decision,  and  that,  in  consequence,  the  request  is 
not  granted  by  his  Electoral  Highness.  H.  REICHE. 

"HANOVER,  July  25, 1707." 

This  failure  of  Papin's  petition  was  the  death-blow  to 
his  effort  to  establish  steam-navigation.  A  mob  of  boat- 
men, who  thought, they  saw  in  the  embryo  steamship  the 
ruin  of  their  business,  attacked  the  vessel  at  night,  and  ut- 
terly destroyed  it.  Papin  narrowrly  escaped  with  his  life, 
and  fled  to  England. 

In  the  year  1736,  Jonathan  Hulls  took  out  an  English 
patent  for  the  use  of  a  steam-engine  for  ship-propulsion, 
proposing  to  employ  his  steamboat  in  towing.  In  1737  he 
published  a  well-written  pamphlet,  describing  this  appa- 
ratus, which  is  shown  in  Fig.  66,  a  reduced  fac-simile  of 
the  plate  accompanying  his  paper. 

1  Scientific  American,  February  24,  1877. 


THE    MODERN   STEAM-ENGINE. 


He  proposed  using  the  Newcomen  engine,  fitted  with  a 
counterpoise-weight  and  a  system  of  ropes  and  grooved 
wheels,  which,  by  a  peculiar  ratchet-like  action,  gave  a  con- 


Fio.  66.— Hulls's  Steamboat,  1736. 

tinuous  rotary  motion.  His  vessel  was  to  have  been  used 
as  a  tow-boat.  He  says,  in  his  description  :  "  In  some  con- 
venient part  of  the  Tow-boat  there  is  placed  a  Vessel  about 
two-3rds  full  of  water,  with  the  Top  closed  ;  and  this  Ves- 
sel being  kept  Boiling,  rarifies  the  Water  into  a  Steam,  this 
Steam  being  convey'd  thro'  a  large  pipe  into  a  cylindrical 
Vessel,  and  there  condensed,  makes  a  Vacuum,  which  causes 
the  weight  of  the  atmosphere  to  press  down  on  this  Vessel, 
and  so  presses  down  a  Piston  that  is  fitted  into  this  Cylin- 
drical Vessel,  in  the  same  manner  as  in  Mr.  Newcomen's 
Engine,  with  which  he  raises  Water  by  Fire. 

"  P,  the  Pipe  coming  from  the  Furnace  to  the  Cylinder. 
Q,  the  Cylinder  wherein  the  steam  is  condensed.  _K,  the 
Valve  that  stops  the  Steam  from  coming  into  the  Cylinder, 
whilst  the  Steam  within  the  same  is  condensed.  jS,  the 
Pipe  to  convey  the  condensing  Water  into  the  Cylinder. 
T,  a  cock  to  let  in  the  condensing  Water  when  the  Cylinder 
is  full  of  Steam  and  the  Valve,  P,  is  shut.  U,  a  Rope  fixed 
to  the  Piston  that  slides  up  and  down  in  the  Cylinder. 

"  Note.  This  Rope,  U,  is  the  same  Rope  that  goes  round 
the  wheel,  D,  in  the  machine." 

In  the  large  division  of  his  plate,  A  is  the  chimney  ;  B 


STEAM-NAVIGATION.  227 

is  the  tow-boat ;  C  C  is  the  frame  carrying  the  engine  ; 
J)  a,  .Z>,  and  D  b  are  three  wheels  carrying  the  ropes  M, 
Fb,  and  Fa,  M  being  the  rope  U  of  his  smaller  figure,  30. 
Ha  and  Hb  are  two  wheels  on  the  paddle-shafts,  1 1,  ar- 
ranged with  pawls  so  that  the  paddle-wheel,  II,  always 
turns  the  same  way,  though  the  wheels  If  a  and  Hb  are 
given  a  reciprocating  motion  ;  Fb  is  a  rope  connecting 
the  wheels  in  the  vessel,  D  b,  with  the  wheels  at  the  stern. 
Hulls  says  : 

"  When  the  Weight,  G,  is  so  raised,  while  the  wheels 
D  a,  D,  and  D  b  are  moving  backward,  the  Rope  Fa  gives 
way,  and  the  Power  of  the  Weight,  G,  brings  the  Wheel 
Ha  forward,  and  the  Fans  with  it,  so  that  the  Fans  always 
keep  going  forward,  notwithstanding  the  Wheels  D  a,  D, 
and  D  b  move  backward  and  forward  as  the  Piston  moves 
up  and  down  in  the  Cylinder.  L  L  are  Teeth  for  a  Catch 
to  drop  in  from  the  Axis,  and  are  so  contrived  that  they 
catch  in  an  alternate  manner,  to  cause  the  Fan  to  move 
always  forward,  for  the  Wheel  Ha,  by  the  power  of  the 
weight,  G,  is  performing  his  Office  while  the  other  wheel, 
Hb,  goes  back  in  order  to  fetch  another  stroke. 

"  Note.  The  weight,  G,  must  contain  but  half  the  weight 
of  the  Pillar  of  Air  pressing  on  the  Piston,  because  the 
weight,  G,  is  raised  at  the  same  time  as  the  Wheel  Hb  per- 
forms its  Office,  so  that  it  is  in  effect  two  Machines  acting 
alternately,  by  the  weight  of  one  Pillar  of  Air,  of  such  a 
Diameter  as  the  Diameter  of  the  Cylinder  is." 

The  inventor  suggests  the  use  of  timber  guards  to  pro- 
tect the  wheels  from  injury,  and,  in  shallow  water,  the  at- 
tachment to  the  paddle-shafts  of  cranks  "  to  strike  a  Shaft 
to  the  Bottom  of  the  River,  which  will  drive  the  Vessel 
forward  with  the  greater  Force."  He  concludes  :  "  Thus  I 
have  endeavoured  to  give  a  clear  and  satisfactory  Account 
of  my  New-invented  Machine,  for  carrying  Vessels  out  of 
and  into  any  Port,  Harbour,  or  River,  against  Wind  and 
Tide,  or  in  a  Calm  ;  and  I  doubt  not  but  whoever  shall 


228  THE    MODERN   STEAM-ENGINE. 

give  himself  the  Trouble  to  peruse  this  Essay,  will  be  so 
candid  as  to  excuse  or  overlook  any  Imperfections  in  the 
diction  or  manner  of  writing,  considering  the  Hand  it  comes 
from,  if  what  I  have  imagined  may  only  appear  as  plain  to 
others  as  it  has  done  to  me,  viz.,  That  the  Scheme  I  now 
offer  is  Practicable,  and  if  encouraged  will  be  Useful." 

There  is  no  positive  evidence  that  Hulls  ever  put  his 
scheme  to  the  test  of  experiment,  although  tradition  docs 
say  that  he  made  a  model,  which  he  tried  with  such  ill  suc- 
cess as  to  prevent  his  prosecution  of  the  experiment  fur- 
ther ;  and  doggerel  rhymes  are  still  extant  which  were  sung 
by  his  neighbors  in  derision  of  his  folly,  as  they  consid- 
ered it. 

A  prize  was  awarded  by  the  French  Academy  of  Sci- 
ences, in  1752,  for  the  best  essay  on  the  manner  of  impel- 
ling vessels  without  wind.  It  was  given  to  Bernoulli!,  who, 
in  his  paper,  proposed  a  set  of  vanes  like  those  of  a  wind- 
mill— a  screw,  in  fact — one  to  be  placed  on  each  side  the 
vessel,  and  two  more  behind.  For  a  vessel  of  100  tons,  he 
proposed  a  shaft  14  feet  long  and  2  inches  in  diameter,  car- 
rying "  eight  wheels,  for  acting  on  the  water,  to  each  of 
which  it "  (the  shaft)  "  is  perpendicular,  and  forms  an  axis 
for  them  all ;  the  wheels  should  be  at  equal  distances  from 
each  other.  Each  wheel  consists  of  8  arms  of  iron,  each  3 
feet  long,  so  that  the  whole  diameter  of  the  wheel  is  6  feet. 
Each  of  these  arms,  at  the  distance  of  20  inches  from  the 
centre,  carries  a  sheet-iron  plane  (or  paddle)  16  inches 
square,  which  is  inclined  so  as  to  form  an  angle  of  60  de- 
grees, both  with  the  arbor  and  keel  of  the  vessel,  to  which 
the  arbor  is  placed  parallel.  To  sustain  this  arbor  and 
the  wheels,  two  strong  bars  of  iron,  between  2  and  3 
inches  thick,  proceed  from  the  side  of  the  vessel  at  right 
angles  to  it,  about  2£  feet  below  the  surface  of  the  water." 
He  proposed  similar  screw-propellers  at  the  stern,  and 
suggested  that  they  could  be  driven  by  animal  or  by  steam- 
power. 


STEAM-NAVIGATION.  229 

But  a  more  remarkable  essay  is  quoted  by  Figuier ' — the 
paper  of  1'Abbe  Gauthier,  published  in  the  "  Memoires  de 
la  Societe  Royale  des  Sciences  et  Lettres  de  Nancy."  Ber- 
nouilli  had  expressed  the  belief  that  the  best  steam-engine 
then  known — that  of  Newcomen — was  not  superior  to  some 
other  motors.  Gauthier  proposed  to  use  that  engine  in 
the  propulsion  of  paddle-wheels  placed  at  the  side  of 
the  vessel.  His  plan  was  not  brought  into  use,  but  his 
paper  embodied  a  glowing  description  of  the  advan- 
tages to  be  secured  by  its  adoption.  He  states  that  a 
galley  urged  by  26  oars  on  a  side  made  but  4,320  toises 
(8,420  meters),  or  about  5  miles,  an  hour,  and  required 
a  crew  of  260  men.  A  steam-engine,  doing  the  same 
work,  would  be  ready  for  action  at  all  times,  could 
be  applied,  when  not  driving  the  vessel,  to  raising  the 
anchor,  working  the  pumps,  and  to  ventilating  the  ship, 
while  the  fire  would  also  serve  to  cook  with.  The  engine 
would  occupy  less  space  and  weight  than  the  men,  would 
require  less  aliment,  and  that  of  a  less  expensive  kind,  etc. 
He  would  make  the  boiler  safe  against  explosions  by  bands 
of  iron  ;  would  make  the  fire-box  of  iron,  with  a  water- 
filled  ash-pit  and  base-plate.  His  injection-water  was  to 
come  from  the  sea,  and  return  by  a  delivery-pipe  placed 
above  the  water-line.  The  chains,  usually  leading  from  the 
end  of  the  beam  to  the  pump-rods,  were  to  be  carried 
around  wheels  on  the  paddle-shaft,  which  were  to  be  pro- 
vided with  pawls  entering  a  ratchet,  and  thus  the  paddles, 
having  been  given  several  revolutions  by  the  descent  of  the 
piston  and  the  unwinding  of  the  chain,  were  to  revolve 
freely  while  the  return-stroke  was  made,  the  chain  being 
hauled  down  and  rewound  by  the  wheel  on  the  shaft,  the 
latter  being  moved  by  a  weight.  The  engine  was  proposed 
to  be  of  6  feet  stroke,  and  to  make  15  strokes  per  minute, 
with  a  force  of  11,000  pounds. 

A  little  later  (1760),  a  Swiss  clergyman,  J.  A.  Genevois, 

1  "  Les  Merveilles  de  la  Science." 


230  THE   MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 

published  in  London  a  paper  relating  to  the  improvement 
of  navigation,1  in  which  his  plan  was  proposed  of  compress- 
ing springs  by  steam  or  other  power,  and  applying  their 
effort  while  recovering  their  form  to  ship-propulsion. 

It  was  at  this  time  that  the  first  attempts  were  made  in 
the  United  States  to  solve  this  problem,  which  had  begun 
to  be  recognized  as  one  of  the  greatest  which  had  presented 
itself  to  the  mechanic  and  the  engineer. 

WILLIAM  HENKY  was  a  prominent  citizen  of  the  then  lit- 
tle village  of  Lancaster,  Pa.,  and  was  noted  as  an  ingenious 
and  successful  mechanic.11  He  was  still  living  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  present  century.  Mr.  Henry  was  the  first  to  make 
the  "  rag  "  carpet,  and  was  the  inventor  of  the  screw-auger. 
He  was  of  a  Scotch  and  North-of -Ireland  family,  his  father, 
John  Henry,  and  his  two  older  brothers,  Robert  and  James, 
having  come  to  the  United  States  about  1720.  Robert  set- 
tled, finally,  in  Virginia,  and  it  is  said  that  Patrick  Henry, 
the  patriot  and  orator,  was  of  his  family.  The  others  re- 
mained in  Chester  County,  Pa.,  where  William  was  born, 
in  1729.  He  learned  the  trade  of  a  gunsmith,  and,  driven 
from  his  home  during  the  Indian  war  (1755  to  1760),  settled 
in  Lancaster. 

In  the  year  1760  he  went  to  England  on  business,  where 
his  attention  was  attracted  to  the  invention — then  new,  and 
the  subject  of  discussion  in  every  circle — of  James  Watt. 
He  saw  the  possibility  of  its  application  to  navigation  and  to 
driving  carriages,  and,  on  his  return  home,  commenced  the 
construction  of  a  steam-engine,  and  finished  it  in  1763. 

Placing  it  in  a  boat  fitted  with  paddle-wheels,  he  made 
a  trial  of  the  new  machine  on  the  Conestoga  River,  near 
Lancaster,  where  the  craft,  by  some  accident,  sank,3  and 

1  "  Some  New  Enquiries  tending  to  the  Improvement  of  Navigation." 
London,  1760. 

3  Lancaster  Daily  Express,  December  10,  1872.  This  account  is  col- 
lated  from  various  manuscripts  and  letters  in  the  possession  of  the  author. 

3  Bowen's  "  Sketches,"  p.  56. 


STEAM-NAVIGATION.  231 

was  lost.  He  was  not  discouraged  by  this  failure,  but 
made  a  second  model,  adding  some  improvements.  Among 
the  records  of  the  Pennsylvania  Philosophical  Society  is,  or 
was,  a  design,  presented  by  Henry  in  1782,  of  one  of  his 
steamboats.  The  German  traveler  Schopff  visited  the 
United  States  in  1783,  and  at  Mr.  Henry's  house,  at  Lan- 
caster, was  shown  "  a  machine  by  Mr.  Henry,  intended  for 
the  propelling  of  boats,  etc.  ;  '  but,'  said  Mr.  Henry,  '  I  am 
doubtful  whether  such  a  machine  would  find  favor  with 
the  public,  as  every  one  considers  it  impracticable  against 
wind  and  tide  ; '  but  that  such  a  Boat  will  come  into  use 
and  navigate  on  the  waters  of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi, 
he  had  not  the  least  doubt  of,  but  the  time  had  not  yet 
arrived  of  its  being  appreciated  and  applied." 

John  Fitch,  whose  experiments  will  presently  be  re- 
ferred to,  was  an  acquaintance  and  frequent  visitor  to  the 
house  of  Mr.  Henry,  and  may  probably  have  there  received 
the  earliest  suggestions  of  the  importance  of  this  applica- 
tion of  steam.  About  1777,  when  Henry  was  engaged  in 
making  mathematical  and  philosophical  instruments,  and 
the  screw-auger,  which  at  that  time  could  only  be  obtained 
of  him,  Robert  Fulton,  then  twelve  years  old,  visited  him, 
to  study  the  paintings  of  Benjamin  West,  who  had  long 
been  a  friend  and  protege  of  Henry.  He,  too,  not  improb- 
ably received  there  the  first  suggestion  which  afterward  led 
him  to  desert  the  art  to  which  he  at  first  devoted  himself, 
and  which  made  of  the  young  portrait-painter  a  successful 
inventor  and  engineer.  West's  acquaintance  with  Henry 
had  no  such  result.  The  young  painter  was  led  by  his 
patron  and  friend  to  attempt  historical  pictures,1  and  prob- 
ably owes  his  fame  greatly  to  the  kindly  and  discerning 
mechanic.  Says  Gait,  in  his  "Memoirs  of  Sir  Benjamin 
West "  (London,  1816)  :  "  Towards  his  old  friend,  William 
Henry,  of  Lancaster  City,  he  always  cherished  the  most 

1  Some  of  West's  portraits,  including  those  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Henry, 
were  lately  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  John  Jordan,  of  Philadelphia. 


232  THE   MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 

grateful  affection  ;  he  was  the  first  who  urged  him  to  at- 
tempt historical  composition." 

When,  after  the  invention  of  "Watt,  the  steam-engine 
had  taken  such  shape  that  it  could  really  work  the  propel- 
ling apparatus  of  a  paddle  or  screw  vessel,  a  new  impetus 
was  given  to  the  work  of  its  adaptation.  In  France,  the 
Marquis  de  Jouffroy  was  one  of  the  earliest  to  perceive  that 
the  improvements  of  Watt,  rendering  the  engine  more  com- 
pact, more  powerful,  and,  at  the  same  time,  more  regular 
and  positive  in  its  action,  had  made  it,  at  last,  readily  ap- 
plicable to  the  propulsion  of  vessels.  The  brothers  Perier 
had  imported  a  Watt  engine  from  Soho,  and  this  was  at- 
tentively studied  by  the  marquis,1  and  its  application  to  the 
paddle-wheels  of  a  steam-vessel  seemed  to  him  a  simple 
problem.  Comte  d'Auxiron  and  Chevalier  Charles  Mou- 
nin,  of  Follenai,  friends  and  companions  of  Jouffroy,  were 
similarly  interested,  and  the  three  are  said  to  have  often 
discussed  the  scheme  together,  and  to  have  united  in  devis- 
ing methods  of  applying  the  new  motor. 

In  the  year  1770,  D'Auxiron  determined  to  attempt  the 
realization  of  the  plans  which  he  had  conceived.  He  re- 
signed his  position  in  the  army,  prepared  his  plans  and 
drawings,  and  presented  them  to  M.  Bertin,  the  Prime 
Minister,  in  the  year  1771  or  1772.  The  Minister  was  fa- 
vorably impressed,  and  the  King  (May  22,  1772)  granted 
D'Auxiron  a  monopoly  of  the  use  of  steam  in  river-naviga- 
tion for  15  years,  provided  he  should  prove  his  plans  prac- 
ticable, and  they  should  be  so  adjudged  by  the  Academy. 

A  company  had  been  formed,  the  day  previous,  consist- 
ing of  D'Auxiron,  Jouffroy,  Comte  de  Dijon,  the  Mar- 
quis d'Yonne,  and  Follenai,  which  advanced  the  requisite 
funds.  The  first  vessel  was  commenced  in  December,  1772. 
When  nearly  completed,  in  September,  1774,  the  boat 
sprung  a  leak,  and,  one  night,  foundered  at  the  wharf. 

1  Figuier. 


STEAM-NAVIGATION.  233 

After  some  angry  discussion,  during  which  D'Auxiron  was 
rudely,  and  probably  unjustly,  accused  of  bad  faith,  the 
company  declined  to  advance  the  money  needed  to  recover 
and  complete  the  vessel.  They  were,  however,  compelled 
by  the  court  to  furnish  it  ;  but,  meantime,  D'Auxiron  died 
of  apoplexy,  the  matter  dropped,  and  the  company  dis- 
solved. The  cost  of  the  experiment  had  been  something 
more  than  15,000  francs. 

The  heirs  of  D'Auxiron  turned  the  papers  of  the  de- 
ceased inventor  over  to  Jouffroy,  and  the  King  transferred 
to  him  the  monopoly  held  by  the  former.  Follenai  retained 
all  his  interest  in  the  project,  and  the  two  friends  soon  en- 
listed a  powerful  adherent  and  patron,  the  Marquis  Ducrest, 
a  well-known  soldier,  courtier,  and  member  of  the  Acade- 
my, who  took  an  active  part  in  the  prosecution  of  the 
scheme.  M.  Jacques  Perier,  the  then  distinguished  me- 
chanic, was  consulted,  and  prepared  plans,  which  were 
adopted  in  place  of  those  of  Jouffroy.  The  boat  was  built 
by  Perier,  and  a  trial  took  place  in  1774,  on  the  Seine. 
The  result  was  unsatisfactory.  The  little  craft  could  hardly 
stem  the  sluggish  current  of  the  river,  and  the  failure  caused 
the  immediate  abandonment  of  the  scheme  by  Perier. 

Still  undiscouraged,  Jouffroy  retired  to  his  country 
home,  at  Baume-les-Dames,  on  the  river  Doubs.  There  he 
carried  on  his  experiments,  getting  his  work  done  as  best 
he  could,  with  the  rude  tools  and  insufficient  apparatus  of  a 
village  blacksmith.  A  "Watt  engine  and  a  chain  carrying 
"  duck-foot "  paddles  were  his  propelling  apparatus.  The 
boat,  which  was  about  14  feet  long  and  6  wide,  was  started 
in  June,  1776.  The  duck's-foot  system  of  paddles  proved 
unsatisfactory,  and  Jouffroy  gave  it  up,  and  renewed  his 
experiments  with  a  new  arrangement.  He  placed  on  the 
paddle-wheel  shaft  a  ratchet-wheel,  and  on  the  piston-rod 
of  his  engine,  which  was  placed  horizontally  in  the  boat, 
a  double  rack,  into  the  upper  and  the  lower  parts  of  which 
the  ratchet-wheel  geared.  Thus  the  wheels  turned  in  the 


234  THE   MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 

same  direction,  whichever  way  the  piston  was  moving. 
The  new  engine  was  built  at  Lyons  in  1780,  by  Messrs. 
Freres-Jean.  The  new  boat  was  about  140  feet  long  and 
14  feet  wide  ;  the  wheels  were  14  feet  in  diameter,  their 
floats  6  feet  long,  and  the  "  dip,"  or  depth  to  which  they 
reached,  was  about  2  feet.  The  boat  drew  3  feet  of  water, 
and  had  a  total  weight  of  about  150  tons. 

At  a  public  trial  of  the  vessel  at  Lyons,  July  15,  1T83, 
the  little  steamer  was  so  successful  as  to  justify  the  publi- 
cation of  the  fact  by  a  report  and  a  proclamation.  The 
fact  that  the  experiment  was  not  made  at  Paris  was  made 
an  excuse  on  the  part  of  the  Academy  for  withholding  its 
indorsement,  and  on  the  part  of  the  Government  for  declin- 
ing to  confirm  to  Jouffroy  the  guaranteed  monopoly.  Im- 
poverished and  discouraged,  Jouffroy  gave  up  all  hope  of 
prosecuting  his  plans  successfully,  and  reentered  the  army. 
Thus  France  lost  an  honor  which  was  already  within  her 
grasp,  as  she  had  already  lost  that  of  the  introduction  of 
the  steam-engine,  in  the  time  of  Papin. 

About  1785,  John  Fitch  and  James  Rumsey  were  en- 
gaged in  experiments  having  in  view  the  application  of 
steam  to  navigation. 

Rumsey's  experiments  began  in  1774,  and  in  1786  he 
succeeded  in  driving  a  boat  at  the  rate  of  four  miles  an  hour 
against  the  current  of  the  Potomac  at  Shepherdstown,  W. 
Va.,  in  presence  of  General  Washington.  His  method  of 
propulsion  has  often  been  reinvented  since,  and  its  adoption 
urged  with  that  enthusiasm  and  persistence  which  is  a  pe- 
culiar characteristic  of  inventors. 

Rumsey  employed  his  engine  to  drive  a  great  pump 
which  forced  a  stream  of  water  aft,  thus  propelling  the 
boat  forward,  as  proposed  earlier  by  Bernoulli!.  This 
same  method  has  been  recently  tried  again  by  the  British 
Admiralty,  in  a  gunboat  of  moderate  size,  using  a  centrifu- 
gal pump  to  set  in  motion  the  propelling  stream,  and  with 
some  other  modifications  which  are  decided  improvements 


STEAM-NAVIGATION.  235 

upon  Rumsey's  rude  arrangements,  but  which  have  not 
done  much  more  than  his  toward  the  introduction  of 
"  Hydraulic  or  Jet  Propulsion,"  as  it  is  now  called. 

In  1787  he  obtained  a  patent  from  the  State  of  Virginia 
for  steam-navigation.  He  wrote  a  treatise  "  On  the  Appli- 
cation of  Steam,"  which  was  printed  at  Philadelphia,  where 
a  Rumsey  society  was  organized  for  the  encouragement  of 
attempts  at  steam-navigation. 

Rumsey  died  of  apoplexy,  while  explaining  some  of  his 
schemes  before  a  London  society  a  short  time  later,  Decem- 
ber 23,  1793,  at  the  age  of  fifty  years.  A  boat,  then  in 
process  of  construction  from  his  plans,  was  afterward  tried 
on  the  Thames,  in  1793,  and  steamed  at  the  rate  of  four 
miles  an  hour.  The  State  of  Kentucky,  in  1839,  presented 
his  son  with  a  gold  medal,  commemorative  of  his  father's 
services  "  in  giving  to  the  world  the  benefit  of  the  steam- 
boat." 

JOHX  FITCH  was  an  unfortunate  and  eccentric,  but  very 
ingenious,  Connecticut  mechanic.  After  roaming  about 
until  forty  years  of  age,  he  finally  settled  on  the  banks  of 
the  Delaware,  where  he  built  his  first  steamboat. 

In  April,  1785,  as  Fitch  himself  states,  at  Neshamony, 
Bucks  County,  Pa.,  he  suddenly  conceived  the  idea  that  a 
carriage  might  be  driven  by  steam.  After  considering  the 
subject  a  few  days,  his  attention  was  led  to  the  plan  of 
using  steam  to  propel  vessels,  and  from  that  time  to  the 
day  of  his  death  he  was  a  persistent  advocate  of  the  intro- 
duction of  the  steamboat.  At  this  time,  Fitch  says,  "I 
did  not  know  that  there  was  a  steam-engine  on  the  earth  ;" 
and  he  was  somewhat  disappointed  when  his  friend,  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Irwin,  of  Neshamony,  showed  him  a  sketch  of 
one  in  "Martin's  Philosophy." 

Fitch's  first  model  was  at  once  built,  and  was  soon  after 
tried  on  a  small  stream  near  Davisville.  The  machinery 
was  made  of  brass,  and  the  boat  was  impelled  by  paddle- 
wheels.  A  rough  model  of  his  steamboat  was  shown  to 


236  THE  MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 

Dr.  John  Ewing,  Provost  of  the  University  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, who,  August  20,  1785,  addressed  a  commendatory 
letter  to  an  ex-Member  of  Congress,  William  C.  Houston, 
asking  him  to  assist  Fitch  in  securing  the  aid  of  the  General 
Government.  The  latter  referred  the  inventor,  by  a  letter 
of  recommendation,  to  a  delegate  from  New  Jersey,  Mr. 
Lambert  Cadwalader.  With  this,  and  other  letters,  Fitch 
proceeded  to  New  York,  where  Congress  then  met,  and 
made  his  application  in  proper  form.  He  was  unsuccess- 
ful, and  equally  so  in  attempting  to  secure  aid  from  the 
Spanish  minister,  who  desired  that  the  profits  should  be 
secured,  by  a  monopoly  of  the  invention,  to  the  King  of 
Spain.  Fitch  declined  further  negotiation,  determined 
that,  if  successful  at  all,  the  benefit  should  accrue  to  his 
own  countrymen. 

In  September,  1785,  Fitch  presented  to  the  American 
Philosophical  Society,  at  Philadelphia,  a  model  in  which  he 
had  substituted  an  endless  chain  and  floats  for  the  paddle- 
wheels,  with  drawings  and  a  descriptive  account  of  his 
scheme.  This  model  is  shown  in  the  accompanying  figure. 


FIG.  67.— Fitch's  Model,  1785. 

In  March,  1786,  Fitch  was  granted  a  patent  by  the 
State  of  New  Jersey,  for  the  exclusive  right  to  the  naviga- 
tion of  the  waters  of  the  State  by  steam,  for  14  years.  A 
month  later,  he  was  in  Philadelphia,  seeking  a  similar 
patent  from  the  State  of  Pennsylvania.  He  did  not  at  once 
succeed,  but  in  a  few  days  he  had  formed  a  company,  raised 
$300,  and  set  about  finding  a  place  in  which  to  construct 
his  engine.  Henry  Voight,  a  Dutch  watchmaker,  a  good 
mechanic,  and  a  very  ingenious  man,  took  an  interest  in  the 


STEAM-NAVIGATION.  237 

company,  and  with  him  Fitch  set  about  his  work  with  great 
enthusiasm.  After  making  a  little  model,  having  a  steam- 
cylinder  but  one  inch  in  diameter,  they  built  a  model  boat 
and  engine,  the  latter  having  a  diameter  of  cylinder  of  three 
inches.  They  tried  the  endless  chain,  and  other  methods  of 
propulsion,  without  success,  and  finally  succeeded  with  a  set 
of  oars  worked  by  the  engine.  In  August,  1786,  it  was  de- 
termined by  the  company  to  authorize  the  construction  of  a 
larger  vessel ;  but  the  money  was  not  readily  obtained. 
Meantime,  Fitch  continued  his  efforts  to  secure  a  patent 
from  the  State,  and  was  finally,  March  28,  1787,  success- 
ful. He  also  obtained  a  similar  grant  from  the  State  of 
Delaware,  in  February  of  the  same  year,  and  from  New 
York,  March  19. 

Money  was  now  subscribed  more  freely,  and  the  work 
on  the  boat  continued  uninterruptedly  until  May,  1787, 
when  a  trial  was  made,  which  revealed  many  defects  in  the 
machinery.  The  cylinder-heads  were  of  wood,  and  leaked 
badly  ;  the  piston  leaked  ;  the  condenser  was  imperfect ; 
the  valves  were  not  tight.  All  these  defects  were  reme- 
died, and  a  condenser  invented  by  Voight — the  "  pipe-con- 
denser " — was  substituted  for  that  defective  detail  as  pre- 
viously made. 

The  steamboat  was  finally  placed  in  working  order,  and 
was  found  capable,  on,  trial,  of  making  three  or  four  miles 
an  hour.  But  now  the  boiler  proved  to  be  too  small  to  fur- 
nish steam  steadily  in  sufficient  quantity  to  sustain  the 
higher  speed.  After  some  delay,  and  much  distress  on  the 
part  of  the  sanguine  inventor,  who  feared  that  he  might  be 
at  last  defeated  when  on  the  very  verge  of  success,  the 
necessary  changes  were  finally  made,  and  a  trial  took  place 
at  Philadelphia,  in  presence  of  the  members  of  the  Conven- 
tion— then  in  session  at  Philadelphia  framing  the  Federal 
Constitution — August  22,  1787.  Many  of  the  distinguished 
spectators  gave  letters  to  Fitch  certifying  his  success.  Fitch 
now  went  to  Virginia,  where  he  succeeded  in  obtaining  a 


238  THE  MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 

patent,  November  7, 1787,  and  then  returned  to  ask  a  patent 
of  the  General  Government. 

A  controversy  with  Rumsey  now  followed,  in  which 
Fitch  asserted  his  claims  to  the  invention  of  the  steamboat, 
and  denied  that  Rumsey  had  done  more  than  to  revive  the 
scheme  which  Bernouilli,  Franklin,  Henry,  Paine,  and 
others,  had  previously  proposed,  and  that  Rumsey's  steam- 
boat was  not  made  until  1786. 

The  boiler  adopted  in  Fitch's  boat  of  1787  was  a  "  pipe- 
boiler,"  which  he  had  described  in  a  communication  to  the 
Philosophical  Society,  in  September,  1785.  It  consisted 
(Fig.  68)  of  a  small  water-pipe,  winding  backward  and  for- 
ward in  the  furnace,  and  terminating  at  one  end  at  the 
point  at  which  the  feed-water  was  introduced,  and  at  the 
other  uniting  with  the  steam-pipe  leading  to  the  engine. 
Voight's  condenser  was  similarly  constructed.  Rumsey 


ht's  Boiler,  1787. 


FIG.  69.— Fitch's  First  Boat,  1787. 


claimed  that  this  boiler  was  copied  from  his  designs.  Fitch 
brought  evidence  to  prove  that  Rumsey  had  not  built  such 
a  boiler  until  after  his  own. 

Fitch's  first  boat-engine  had  a  steam-cylinder  12  inches 
in  diameter.     A  second  engine  was  now  built  (1788)  with  a 


STEAM-NAVIGATION. 


239 


cylinder  18  inches  in  diameter,  and  a  new  boat.  The  first 
vessel  was  45  feet  long  and  12  feet  wide  ;  the  new  boat  was 
60  feet  long  and  of  but  8  feet  breadth  of  beam.  The  first 
boat  (Fig.  69)  had  paddles  worked  at  the  sides,  with  the 
motion  given  the  Indian  paddle  in  propelling  a  canoe  ;  in 


FIG.  70.— John  Fitch,  1788. 

the  second  boat  (Fig.  70)  they  were  similarly  worked,  but 
were  placed  at  the  stern.  There  were  three  of  these  pad- 
dles. The  boat  was  finally  finished  in  July,  1788,  and  made 
a  trip  to  Burlington,  20  miles  from  Philadelphia.  When 
just  reaching  their  destination,  their  boiler  gave  out,  and 
they  made  their  return-trip  to  Philadelphia  floating  with 
the  tide.  Subsequently,  the  boat  made  a  number  of  excur- 
sions on  the  Delaware  River,  making  three  or  four  miles  an 
hour. 

Another  of  Fitch's  boats,  in  April,  1790,  made  seven 
miles  an  hour.  Fitch,  writing  of  this  boat,  says  that  ''on 
the  16th  of  April  we  got  our  work  completed,  and  tried 
our  boat  again  ;  and,  although  the  wind  blew  very  fresh  at 
the  east,  we  reigned  lord  high  admirals  of  the  Delaware, 


240  THE   MODERN   STEAM-ENGINE. 

and  no  boat  on  the  river  could  hold  way  with  us."  In 
June  of  that  year  it  was  placed  as  a  passenger-boat  on  a 
line  from  Philadelphia  to  Burlington,  Bristol,  Bordentown, 
and  Trenton,  occasionally  leaving  that  route  to  take  excur- 
sions to  Wilmington  and  Chester.  During  this  period,  the 
boat  probably  ran  between  2,000  and  3,000  miles,1  and  with 
no  serious  accident.  During  the  winter  of  1790-'91,  Fitch 
commenced  another  steamboat,  the  "Perseverance,"  and 
gave  considerable  time  to  the  prosecution  of  his  claim  for  a 


FIG.  71.— John  Fitch,  1796. 

patent  from  the  United  States.  The  boat  was  never  com- 
pleted, although  he  received  his  patent,  after  a  long  and 
spirited  contest  with  other  claimants,  on  the  26th  of  August, 
1791,  and  Fitch  lost  all  hope  of  success.  He  went  to 
France  in  1793,  hoping  to  obtain  the  privilege  of  building 
steam-vessels  there,  but  was  again  disappointed,  and  worked 
his  passage  home  in  the  following  year. 

In  the  year  1796,  Fitch  was  again  in  New  York  City, 
experimenting  with  a  little  screw  steamboat  on  the  "  Col- 
lect "  Pond,  which  then  covered  that  part  of  the  city  now 

1  "  Life  of  John  Fitch,"  Westcott. 


STEAM-NAVIGATION.  241 

occupied  by  the  "  Tombs,"  the  city  prison.  This  little  boat 
was  a  ship's  yawl  fitted  with  a  screw,  like  that  adopted  later 
by  Woodcroft,  and  driven  by  a  rudely-made  engine. 

Fitch,  while  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia  at  about  this 
time,  met  Oliver  Evans,  and  discussed  with  him  the  proba- 
ble future  of  steam-navigation,  and  proposed  to  form  a 
company  in  the  West,  to  promote  the  introduction  of  steam 
on  the  great  rivers  of  that  part  of  the  country.  He  settled 
at  last  in  Kentucky,  on  his  land-grant,  and  there  amused 
himself  with  a  model  steamboat,  which  he  placed  in  a  small 
stream  near  Bardstown.  His  death  occurred  there  in  July, 
1798,  and  his  body  still  lies  in  the  village  cemetery,  with 
only  a  rough  stone  to  mark  the  spot. 

Both  Rumsey  and  Fitch  endeavored  to  introduce  their 
methods  in  Great  Britain  ;  and  Fitch,  while  urging  the  im- 
portance and  the  advantages  of  his  plan,  confidently  stated 
his  belief  that  the  ocean  would  soon  be  crossed  by  steam- 
vessels,  and  that  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  would 
also  become  exclusively  a  steam-navigation.  His  reiter- 
ated assertion,  "The  day  will  come  when  some  more 
powerful  man  will  get  fame  and  riches  from  my  invention  ; 
but  no  one  will  believe  that  poor  John  Fitch  can  do  any- 
thing worthy  of  attention,"  now  almost  sounds  like  a 
prophecy. 

During  this  period,'  an  interest  which  had  never  dimin- 
ished in  Great  Britain  had  led  to  the  introduction  of  exper- 
imental steamboats  in  that  country.  PATRICK  MILLER,  of 
Dalswinton,  had  commenced  experimenting,  in  1786-'87, 
with  boats  having  double  or  triple  hulls,  and  propelled  by 
paddle-wheels  placed  between  the  parts  of  the  compound 
vessel.  James  Taylor,  a  young  man  who  had  been  engaged 
as  tutor  for  Mr.  Miller's  sons,  suggested,  in  1787,  the  sub- 
stitution of  steam  for  the  manual  power  which  had  been, 
up  to  that  time,  relied  upon  in  their  propulsion.  Mr.  Mil- 
ler, in  1787,  printed  a  description  of  his  plan  of  propelling 
apparatus,  and  in  it  stated  that  he  had  "  reason  to  believe 


242 


THE   MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 


that  the  power  of  the  Steam-Engine  may  be  applied  to  work 
the  wheels." 

In  the  winter  of  1787-'88,  William  Symmington,  who 
had  planned  a  new  form  of  steam-engine,  and  made  a  success- 
ful working-model,  was  employed  by  Mr.  Miller  to  construct 
an  engine  for  a  new  boat.  This  was  built ;  the  little  engine, 
having  two  cylinders  of  but  four  inches  in  diameter,  was 
placed  on  board,  and  a  trial  was  made  October  14,  1788. 
The  vessel  (Fig.  72)  was  25  feet  long,  of  7  feet  beam,  and 
made  5  miles  an  hour. 


FIG.  72.-Miller,  Taylor,  and  Symmington,  1788. 


In  the  year  1789,  a  large  vessel  was  built,  with  an  engine 
having  a  steam-cylinder  18  inches  in  diameter,  and  this  ves- 
sel was  ready  for  trial  in  November  of  that  year.  On  the 
first  trial,  the  paddle-wheels  proved  too  slight,  and  broke 
down  ;  they  were  replaced  by  stronger  wheels,  and,  in  De- 
cember, the  boat,  on  trial,  made  seven  miles  an  hour. 

Miller,  like  many  other  inventors,  seems  to  have  lost  his 
interest  in  the  matter  as  soon  as  success  seemed  assured, 
and  dropped  it  to  take  up  other  incomplete  plans.  More 
than  a  quarter  of  a  century  later,  the  British  Government 
gave  Taylor  a  pension  of  £50  per  annum,  and,  in  1837,  his 


STEAM-NAVIGATION.  243 

/our  daughters  were  each  given  a  similar  annuity.  Mr. 
Miller  received  no  reward,  although  he  is  said  to  have  ex- 
pended over  £30,000.  The  engine  of  Symmington  was 
condemned  by  Miller  as  "  the  most  improper  of  all  steam- 
engines  for  giving  motion  to  a  vessel."  Nothing  more  was 
done  in  Great  Britain  until  early  in  the  succeeding  century. 

In  the  United  States,  several  mechanics  were  now  at 
work  besides  Fitch.  Samuel  Morey  and  Nathan  Read  were 
among  these.  Nicholas  Roosevelt  was  another.  It  had 
just  been  found  that  American  mechanics  were  able  to  do 
the  required  shop-work.  The  first  experimental  steam-en- 
gine built  in  America  is  stated  to  have  been  made  in  1773 
by  Christopher  Colles,  a  lecturer  before  the  American  Phi- 
losophical Society  at  Philadelphia.  The  first  steam-cylinder 
of  any  considerable  size  is  said1  to  have  been  made  by 
Sharpe  &  Curtenius,  of  New  York  City. 

SAMUEL  MOREY  was  the  son  of  one  of  the  first  settlers 
of  Orford,  N.  H.  He  was  naturally  fond  of  science  and 
mechanics,  and  became  something  of  an  inventor.  He  be- 
gan experimenting  with  the  steamboat  in  1790  or  earlier, 
building  a  small  vessel,  and  fitting  it  with  paddle-wheels 
driven  by  a  steam-engine  of  his  own  design,  and  constructed 
by  himself.2  He  made  a  trial-trip  one  Sunday  morning  in 
the  summer  of  17QO,  a  friend  to  accompany  him,  from  Ox- 
ford, up  the  Connecticut  River,  to  Fairlee,  Vt.,  a  distance 
of  several  miles,  and  returned  safely.  He  then  went  to 
New  York,  and  spent  the  summer  of  each  year  until  1793 
in  experimenting  with  his  boat  and  modifications  of  his 
engine.  In  1793  he  made  a  trip  to  Hartford,  returning  to 
New  York  the  next  summer.  His  boat  was  a  "  stern- 
wheeler,"  and  is  stated  to  have  been  capable  of  steaming 
five  miles  an  hour.  He  next  went  to  Bordentown,  N.  J., 
where  he  built  a  larger  boat,  which  is  said  to  have  been  a 

1  Ellington's  Gazette,  February  16,  1775. 

2  Providence  Journal,  May  7,  1874.     Coll.,  N.  H.  Antiquar.  Soc.,  No.  1 ; 
"Who  invented  the  Steamboat?  "  William  A.  Mowry,  1874. 


244  THE   MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 

side-wheel  boat,  and  to  have  worked  satisfactorily.  His 
funds  finally  gave  out,  and  he  gave  up  his  project  after 
having,  in  1797,  made  a  trip  to  Philadelphia.  Fulton, 
Livingston,  and  Stevens  met  Morey  at  New  York,  inspect- 
ed his  boat,  and  made  an  excursion  to  Greenwich  with  him.1 
Livingston  is  said a  to  have  offered  to  assist  Morey  if  he 
should  succeed  in  attaining  a  speed  of  eight  miles  an  hour. 

Morey's  experiments  seem  to  have  been  conducted  very 
quietly,  however,  and  almost  nothing  is  known  of  them. 
The  author  has  not  been  able  to  learn  any  particulars  of 
the  engines  used  by  him,  and  nothing  definite  is  known  of 
the  dimensions  of  either  boat  or  machinery.  Morey  never, 
like  Fitch  and  Rumsey,  sought  publicity  for  his  plans  or 
notoriety  for  himself. 

NATHAN  READ,  who  has  already  been  mentioned,  a  na- 
tive of  Warren,  Mass.,  where  he  was  born  in  the  year  1759, 
and  a  graduate  of  Harvard  College,  was  a  student  of  med- 
icine, and  subsequently  a  manufacturer  of  chain-cables  and 
other  iron-work  for  ships.  He  invented,  and  in  1798  pat- 
ented, a  nail-making  machine.  He  was  at  one  time  (1800- 
1803)  a  Member  of  Congress,  and,  later,  a  Justice  of  the 
Court  of  Common  Pleas,  and  Chief  Justice  in  Hancock 
County,  Me.,  after  his  removal  to  that  State  in  1807.  He 
died  in  Belfast,  Me.,  in  1849,  at  the  age  of  ninety  years. 

In  the  year  1788  he  became  interested  in  the  problem 
of  steam-navigation,  and  learned  something  of  the  work  of 
Fitch.  He  first  attempted  to  design  a  boiler  that  should  be 
strong,  light,  and  compact,  as  well  as  safe.  His  first  plan 
was  that  of  the  "  Portable  Furnace-Boiler,"  as  he  called  it ; 
it  was  patented  August  26, 1791.  As  designed,  it  consisted, 
as  seen  in  Figs.  73  and  74,  which  are  reduced  from  his 
patent  drawings,  of  a  shell  of  cylindrical  form,  like  the 
now  common  vertical  tubular  boiler.  A  is  the  furnace- 
door,  B  a  heater  and  feed-water  reservoir,  D  a  pipe  leading 

1  Rev.  Cyrus  Mann,  in  the  Boston  Recorder,  1858.  *  Westcott. 


STEAM-NAVIGATION. 


245 


the  feed-water  into  the  boiler,1  E  the  smoke-pipe,  and  F 
the  steam-pipe  leading  to  the  engine.  G  is  the  "  shell "  of 
the  boiler,  and  If  the  fire-box.  The  crown-sheet,  IJT,  has 
depending  from  it,  in  the  furnace,  a  set  of  water-tubes,  b  b, 


FIG.  73.— Read's  Boiler  in  Section,  1788.         FIG.  74.— Read's  Multi-Tubular  Boiler,  1788. 

closed  at  their  lower  ends,  and  another  set,  a  a,  which  con- 
nect the  water-space  above  the  furnace  with  the  water-bot- 
tom, K  K.  L  is  the  furnace,  and  M  the  draught-space 
between  the  boiler  and  the  ash-pit,  in  which  the  grates 
are  set. 

This  boiler  was  intended  to  be  used  in  both  steamboats 
and  steam-carriages.  The  first  drawings  were  made  in 
1788  or  1789,  as  were  those  of  a  peculiar  form  of  steam- 
engine  which  also  resembled  very  closely  that  afterward 
constructed  in  Great  Britain  by  Trevithick."  He  built  a 

1  This  is  substantially  an  arrangement  that  has  recently  become  common. 
It  has  been  repatented  by  later  inventors. 

2  "  Nathan  Read  and  the  Steam-Enginc." 


246  THE   MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 

boat  in  1789,  which  he  fitted  with  paddle-wheels  and  a 
crank,  which  was  turned  by  hand,  and,  by  trial,  satisfied 
himself  that  the  system  would  work  satisfactorily. 

He  then  applied  for  his  patent,  and  spent  the  greater 
part  of  the  winter  of  1789-'90  in  New  York,  where  Congress 
then  met,  endeavoring  to  secure  it.  In  January,  1791, 
Read  withdrew  his  petitions  for  patents,  proposing  to  incor- 
porate accounts  of  new  devices,  and  renewed  them  a  few 
months  later.  His  patents  were  finally  issued,  dated  Au- 
gust 26,  1791.  John  Fitch,  James  Rumsey,  and  John  Ste- 
vens, also,  all  received  patents  at  the  same  date,  for  various 
methods  of  applying  steam  to  the  propulsion  of  vessels. 

Read  appears  to  have  never  succeeded  in  even  experi- 
mentally making  his  plans  successful.  He  deserves  credit 
for  his  early  and  intelligent  perception  of  the  importance 
of  the  subject,  and  for  the  ingenuity  of  his  devices.  As 
the  inventor  of  the  vertical  multi-tubular  fire-box  boiler,  he 
has  also  entitled  himself  to  great  distinction.  This  boiler 
is  now  in  very  general  use,  and  is  a  standard  form. 

In  1792,  Elijah  Ormsbee,  a  Rhode  Island  mechanic, 
assisted  pecuniarily  by  David  Wilkinson,  built  a  small 
steamboat  at  Winsor's  Cove,  Narragansett  Bay,  and  made 
a  successful  trial-trip  on  the  Seekonk  River.  Ormsbee 
used  an  "  atmospheric  engine  "  and  "  duck's-foot "  paddles. 
His  boat  attained  a  speed  of  from  three  to  four  miles  an 
hour. 

In  Great  Britain,  Lord  Dundas  and  William  Symming- 
ton,  the  former  as  the  purveyor  of  funds  and  the  latter  as 
engineer,  followed  by  Henry  Bell,  were  the  first  to  make 
the  introduction  of  the  steam-engine  for  the  propulsion  of 
ships  so  completely  successful  that  no  interruption  subse- 
quently took  place  in  the  growth  of  the  new  system  of 
water-transportation. 

Thomas,  Lord  Dundas,  of  Kerse,  had  taken  great  inter- 
est in  the  experiments  of  Miller,  and  had  hoped  to  be  able 
to  apply  the  new  motor  on  the  Forth  and  Clyde  Canal,  in 


STEAM-NAVIGATION. 


247 


which  he  held  a  large  interest.  After  the  failure  of  the 
earlier  experiments,  he  did  not  forget  the  matter  ;  but  sub- 
sequently, meeting  with  Symmington,  who  had  been  Mil- 
ler's constructing  engineer,  he  engaged  him  to  continue 
the  experiments,  and  furnished  all  required  capital,  about 
£7,000.  This  was  ten  years  after  Miller  had  abandoned 
his  scheme. 

Symmington  commenced  work  in  1801.  The  first  boat 
built  for  Lord  Dundas,  which  has  been  claimed  to  have 
been  the  "  first  practical  steamboat,"  was  finished  ready  for 
trial  early  in  1802.  The  vessel  was  called  the  "  Charlotte 
Dundas,"  in  honor  of  a  daughter  of  Lord  Dundas,  who  be- 
came Lady  Milton. 

The  vessel  (Fig.  75)  was  driven  by  a  "Watt  double- 
acting  engine,  turning  a  crank  on  the  paddle-wheel  shaft. 
The  sectional  sketch  below  exhibits  the  arrangement  of  the 


FIG.  75.— The  "  Charlotte  Dundas,"  1801. 

machinery.  A  is  the  steam-cylinder,  driving,  by  means  of 
the  connecting-rod,  J3  C,  a  stern-wheel,  E  E.  F  is  the 
boiler,  and  G-  the  tall  smoke-pipe.  An  air-pump  and  con- 
denser, Jf,  is  seen  under  the  steam-cylinder. 

In  March,  1802,  the  boat  was  brought  to  Lock  No.  20 
on  the  Forth  and  Clyde  Canal,  and  two  vessels  of  70  tons 
burden  each  taken  in  tow.  Lord  Dundas,  "William  Sym- 
mington, and  a  party  of  invited  guests,  were  taken  on  board, 


248 


THE   MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 


.and  the  boat  steamed  down  to  Port  Glasgow,  a  distance  of 
about  20  miles,  against  a  strong  head-wind,  in  six  hours. 

The  proprietors  of  the  canal  were  now  urged  to  adopt 
the  new  plan  of  towing  ;  but,  fearing  injury  to  the  banks 
of  the  canal,  they  declined  to  do  so.  Lord  Dundas  then 
laid  the  matter  before  the  Duke  of  Bridgewater,  who  gave 
Symmington  an  order  for  eight  boats  like  the  Charlotte 
Dundas,  to  be  used  on  his  canal.  The  death  of  the  Duke, 
however,  prevented  the  contract  from  being  earned  into 
effect,  and  Symmington  again  gave  up  the  project  in  de- 
spair. A  quarter  of  a  century  later,  Symmington  received 
from  the  British  Government  £100,  and,  a  little  later,  £50 
additional,  as  an  acknowledgment  of  his  services.  The 
Charlotte  Dundas  was  laid  up,  and  we  hear  nothing  more 
of  that  vessel. 


FIG.  76.— The  "Comet,"  1812. 


Among  those  who  saw  the  Charlotte  Dundas,  and  who 
appreciated  the  importance  of  the  success  achieved  by  Sym- 
mington, was  HENRY  BELL,  who,  10  years  afterward,  con- 
structed the  Comet  (Fig.  76),  the  first  passenger-vessel  built 


STEAM-NAVIGATION.  249 

in  Europe.  This  vessel  was  built  in  1811,  and  completed 
January  18, 1812.  The  craft  was  of  30  tons  burden,  40  feet 
in  length,  and  10^  feet  breadth  of  beam.  There  were  two 
paddle-wheels  on  each  side,  driven  by  engines  rated  at 
three  horse-power. 

Bell  had,  it  is  said,  been  an  enthusiastic  believer  in  the 
advantages  to  be  secured  by  this  application  of  steam,  from 
about  1T86.  In  1800,  and  again  in  1803,  he  applied  to  the 
British  Admiralty  for  aid  in  securing  those  advantages  by 
experimentally  determining  the  proper  form  and  propor- 
tions of  machinery  and  vessel ;  but  was  not  able  to  con- 
vince the  Admiralty  of  "  the  practicability  and  great  utility 
of  applying  steam  to  the  propelling  of  vessels  against 
winds  and  tides,  and  every  obstruction  on  rivers  and  seas 
where  there  was  depth  of  water."  He  also  wrote  to  the 
United  States  Government,  urging  his  views  in  a  similar 
strain. 

Bell's  boat  was,  when  finished,  advertised  as  a  passenger- 
boat,  to  leave  Greenock,  where  the  vessel  was  built,  on 
Mondays,  Wednesdays,  and  Fridays,  for  Glasgow,  24  miles 
distant,  returning  Tuesdays,  Thursdays,  and  Saturdays. 
The  fare  was  made  "  four  shillings  for  the  best  cabin,  and 
three  shillings  for  the  second."  It  was  some  months  before 
the  vessel  became  considered  a  trustworthy  means  of  con- 
veyance. Bell,  on  the  whole,  was  at  first  a  heavy  loser  by 
his  venture,  although  his  boat  proved  itself  a  safe,  stanch 


Bell  constructed  several  other  boats  in  1815,  and  with 
his  success  steam-navigation  in  Great  Britain  was  fairly 
inaugurated.  In  1814  there  were  five  steamers,  all  Scotch, 
regularly  working  in  British  waters  ;  in  1820  there  were 
34,  one-half  of  which  were  in  England,  14  in  Scotland,  and 
the  remainder  in  Ireland.  Twenty  years  later,  at  the  close 
of  the  period  to  which  this  chapter  is  especially  devoted, 
there  were  about  1,325  steam-vessels  in  that  kingdom,  of 
which  1,000  were  English  and  250  Scotch. 


250  THE  MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 

But  we  must  return  to  America,  to  witness  the  first  and 
most  complete  success,  commercially,  in  the  introduction  of 
the  steamboat. 

The  Messrs.  Stevens,  Livingston,  Fulton,  and  Roosevelt 
were  there  the  most  successful  pioneers.  The  latter  is  said 
to  have  built  the  "  Polacca,"  a  small  steamboat  launched  on 
the  Passaic  River  in  1798.  The  vessel  was  60  feet  long, 
and  had  an  engine  of  20  inches  diameter  of  cylinder  and 
2  feet  stroke,  which  drove  the  boat  8  miles  an  hour,  carry- 
ing a  party  of  invited  guests,  which  included  the  Spanish 
Minister.  Livingston  and  John  Stevens  had  induced  Roose- 
velt to  try  their  plans  still  earlier,1  paying  the  expense  of 
the  experiments.  The  former  adopted  the  plan  of  Bernou- 
illi  and  Rumsey,  using  a  centrifugal  pump  to  force  a  jet  of 
water  from  the  stern  ;  the  latter  used  the  screw.  Living- 
ston going  to  France  as  United  States  Minister,  Barlow 
carried  over  the  plans  of  the  "Polacca,"  and  Roosevelt's 
friends  state  that  a  boat  built  by  them,  in  conjunction  with 
Fulton,  was  a  "  sister-ship  "  to  that  vessel.  In  1798,  Roose- 
velt patented  a  double  engine,  having  cranks  set  at  right 
angles.  As  late  as  1814  he  received  a  patent  for  a  steam- 
vessel,  fitted  with  paddle-wheels  having  adjustable  floats. 
His  boat  of  1798  is  stated  by  some  writers  to  have  been 
made  by  him  on  joint  account  of  himself,  Livingston,  and 
Stevens.  Roosevelt,  some  years  later,  was  again  at  work, 
associating  himself  with  Fulton  in  the  introduction  of 
steam-navigation  of  the  rivers  of  the  "West." 

In  1798,  the  Legislature  of  New  York  passed  a  law  giv- 
ing Chancellor  Livingston  the  exclusive  right  to  steam- 
navigation  in  the  waters  of  the  State  for  a  period  of  20 
years,  provided  that  he  should  succeed,  within  a  twelve- 
month, in  producing  a  boat  that  should  steam  four  miles 
an  hour. 

1  "  Encyclopaedia  Americana." 

*  "  A  Lost  Chapter  in  the  History  of  the  Steamboat,"  J.  H.  B.  Latrobe, 
1871. 


STEAM-NAVIGATION. 


251 


Livingston  did  not  succeed  in  complying  with  the  terms 
of  the  act,  but,  in  1803,  he  procured  the  reenactment  of  the 
law  in  favor  of  himself  and  Robert  Fulton,  who  was  then 
experimenting  in  France,  after  having,  in  England,  watched 
the  progress  of  steam-navigation  there,  and  then  taken  a 
patent  in  this  country. 


Robert  Fulton. 

ROBERT  FULTON  was  a  native  of  Little  Britain,  Lancas- 
ter County,  Pa.,  born  1765.  He  commenced  experimenting 
with  paddle-wheels  when  a  mere  boy,  in  1779,  visiting  an 
aunt  living  on  the  bank  of  the  Conestoga.1  During  his 
youth  he  spent  much  of  his  time  in  the  workshops  of  his 
neighborhood,  and  learned  the  trade  of  a  watchmaker  ;  but 
he  adopted,  finally,  the  profession  of  an  artist,  and  exhib- 
ited great  skill  in  portrait-painting.  While  his  tastes  were 

1  Vide  "  Life  of  Fulton,"  Reigart. 


252  THE   MODERN   STEAM-ENGINE. 

at  this  time  taking  a  decided  bent,  he  is  said  to  have  visited 
frequently  the  house  of  William  Henry,  already  mentioned, 
to  see  the  paintings  of  Benjamin  West,  who  in  his  youth 
had  been  a  kind  of  protege  of  Mr.  Henry  ;  and  he  may 
probably  have  seen  there  the  model  steamboats  which  Mr. 
Henry  exhibited,  in  1783  or  1784,  to  the  German  traveler 
Schdpff.  In  later  years,  Thomas  Paine,  the  author  of 
"  Common  Sense,"  at  one  time  lived  with  Mr.  Henry,  and 
afterward,  in  1788,  proposed  that  Congress  take  up  the 
subject  for  the  benefit  of  the  country. 

Fulton  went  to  England  when  he  came  of  age,  and 
studied  painting  with  Benjamin  West.  He  afterward 
spent  two  years  in  Devonshire,  where  he  met  the  Duke  of 
Bridgewater,  who  afterward  so  promptly  took  advantage 
of  the  success  of  the  "  Charlotte  Dundas." 

While  in  England  and  in  France — where  he  went  in 
1797,  and  resided  some  time — he  may  have  seen  something 
of  the  attempts  which  were  beginning  to  be  made  to  intro- 
duce steam-navigation  in  both  of  those  countries. 

At  about  this  time — perhaps  in  1793 — Fulton  gave  up 
painting  as  a  profession,  and  became  a  civil  engineer.  In 
1797  he  went  to  Paris,  and  commenced  experimenting  with 
submarine  torpedoes  and  torpedo-boats.  In  1801  he  had 
succeeded  so  well  with  them  as  to  create  much  anxiety  in 
the  minds  of  the  English,  then  at  war  with  France. 

He  had,  as  early  as  1793,  proposed  plans  for  steam-ves- 
sels, both  to  the  United  States  and  the  British  Govern- 
ments, and  seems  never  entirely  to  have  lost  sight  of  the 
subject.1  While  in  France  he  lived  with  Joel  Barlow,  who 
subsequently  became  known  as  a  poet,  and  as  Embassador 
to  France  from  the  United  States,  but  who  was  then  en- 
gaged in  business  in  Paris. 

When  about  leaving  the  country,  Fulton  met  Robert 
Livingston  (Chancellor  Livingston,  as  he  is  often  called), 

1  Vide  "  Life  of  Fulton,"  Golden. 


STEAM-NAVIGATION. 


253 


who  was  then  (1801)  Embassador  of  the  United  States  at 
the  court  of  France.  Together  they  discussed  the  project 
of  applying  steam  to  navigation,  and  determined  to  attempt 
the  construction  of  a  steamboat  on  the  Seine  ;  and  in  the 
early  spring  of  the  year  1802,  Fulton  having  attended  Mrs. 
Barlow  to  Plombieres,  where  she  had  been  sent  by  her  phy- 
sician, he  there  made  drawings  and  models,  which  were 
sent  or  described  to  Livingston.  In  the  following  winter 
Fulton  completed  a  model  side-wheel  boat. 

January  24,  1803,  he  delivered  this  model  to  MM. 
Molar,  Bordel,  and  Montgolfier,  with  a  descriptive  memoir, 
in  which  he  stated  that  he  had,  by  experiment,  proven  that 
side- wheels  were  better  than  the  "chaplet"  (paddle-floats 
set  on  an  endless  chain).1  These  gentlemen  were  then 


FIG.  77.— Fulton's  Experiments. 

building  for  Fulton  and   Livingston  their  first  boat,  on 
L'Isle  des  Cygnes,  in  the  Seine.     In  planning  this  boat,  Ful- 

1  A  French  inventor,  a  watchmaker  of  Trevoux,  named  Desblancs,  had 
already  deposited  at  the  Conservatoire  a  model  fitted  with  "  chaplets." 


254 


THE   MODERN   STEAM-ENGINE. 


ton  had  devised  many  different  methods  of  applying  steam 
to  its  propulsion,  and  had  made  some  experiments  to  de- 
termine the  resistance  of  fluids.  He  therefore  had  been 
able  to  calculate,  more  accurately  than  had  any  earlier  in- 
ventor, the  relative  size  and  proportions  of  boat  and  ma- 
chinery. 

The  author  has  examined  a  large  collection  of  Fulton's 
drawings,  among  which  are  sketches,  very  neatly  executed, 
of  many  of  these  plans,  including  the  chaplet,  side-wheel, 
and  stern-wheel  boats,  driven  by  various  forms  of  steam- 
engine,  some  working  direct,  and  some  geared  to  the  pad- 
dle-wheel shaft.  Figs.  77  and  78  are  engraved  from 
two  of  these  sheets.  The  first  represents  the  .method 
adopted  by  Fulton  to  determine  the  resistance  of  masses  of 
wood  of  various  forms  and  proportions,  when  towed  through 
water.  The  other  is  "  A  Table  of  the  resistance  of  bodies 
moved  through  water,  taken  from  experiments  made  in 
England  by  a  society  for  improving  Naval  architecture,  be- 
tween the  years  1793  and  1798"  (Fig.  78).  This  latter  is 


FIG.  78.— Pulton's  Table  of  Resistances. 


from  a  certified  copy  of  "  The  Original  Drawing  on  file  in 
the  Office  of  the  Clerk  of  the  New  York  District,  making 
a  part  of  the  Demonstration  of  the  patent  granted  to  Robert 
Fulton,  Esqr.,  on  the  llth  day  of  February,  1809.  Dated 


SrEAM-NAVIGATION.  355 

this  3rd  March,  1814,"  and  is  signed  by  Theron  Rudd,  Clerk 
of  the  New  York  District.  Resistances  are  given  in  pounds 
per  square  foot. 

Guided  by  these  experiments  and  calculations,  therefore, 
Fulton  directed  the  construction  of  his  vessel.  It  was  com- 
pleted in  the  spring  of  1803.  But,  unfortunately,  the  hull 
of  the  little  vessel  was  too  weak  for  its  heavy  machinery, 
and  it  broke  in  two  and  sank  to  the  bottom  of  the  Seine. 
Undiscouraged,  Fulton  at  once  set  about  repairing  dam- 
ages. He  was  compelled  to  direct  the  rebuilding  of  the 
hull.  The  machinery  was  little  injured.  In  June,  1803, 
the  reconstruction  was  completed,  and  the  vessel  was  set 
afloat  in  July.  The  hull  was  66  feet  long,  of  8  feet  beam, 
and  of  light  draught. 

August  9,  1803,  this  boat  was  cast  loose,  and  steamed 
up  the  Seine,  in  presence  of  an  immense  concourse  of  spec- 
tators. A  committee  of  the  National  Academy,  consisting 
of  Bougainville,  Bossuet,  Carnot,  and  Perier,  were  present 
to  witness  the  experiment.  The  boat  moved  but  slowly, 
making  only  between  3  and  4  miles  an  hour  against  the 
current,  the  speed  through  the  water  being  about  4^  miles  ; 
but  this  was,  all  things  considered,  a  great  success. 

The  experiment  was  successful,  but  it  attracted  little 
attention,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  its  success  had 
been  witnessed  by  the  committee  of  the  Academy  and  by 
many  well-known  savants  and  mechanics,  and  by  officers  on 
Napoleon's  staff.  The  boat  remained  a  long  time  on  the 
Seine,  near  the  palace.  The  water-tube  boiler  of  this  vessel 
(Fig.  79)  is  still  preserved  at  the  Conservatoire  des  Arts  et 
Metiers  at  Paris,  where  it  is  known  as  Barlow's  boiler.  Bar- 
low patented  it  in  France  as  early  as  1793,  as  a  steamboat- 
boiler,  and  states  that  the  object  of  his  construction  was  to 
obtain  the  greatest  possible  extent  of  heating-surface. 

Fulton  endeavored  to  secure  the  pecuniary  aid  and  the 
countenance  of  the  First  Consul,  but  in  vain. 

Livingston  wrote  home,  describing  the  trial  of  this  steam- 


256 


THE   MODERN   STEAM-ENGINE. 


boat  and  its  results,  and  procured  the  passage  of  an  act  by 
the  Legislature  of  the  State  of  New  York,  extending  a 
monopoly  granted  him  in  1798  for  the  term  of  20  years 
from  April  5,  1803,  the  date  of  the  new  law,  and  extending 


Fto.  79.— Barlow's  Water-Tube  Boiler,  1708. 

the  time  allowed  for  proving  the  practicability  of  driving 
a  boat  four  miles  an  hour  by  steam  to  two  years  from  the 
same  date.  A  later  act  further  extended  the  time  to  April, 
1807. 

In  May,  1804,  Fulton  went  to  England,  giving  up  all 
hope  of  success  in  France  with  either  his  steamboats  or  his 
torpedoes.  Fulton  had  already  written  to  Boulton  &  "Watt, 
ordering  an  engine  to  be  built  from  plans  which  he  fur- 
nished them  ;  but  he  had  not  informed  them  of  the  purpose 
to  which  it  was  to  be  applied.  This  engine  was  to  have  a 
steam-cylinder  2  feet  in  diameter  and  of  4  feet  stroke.  The 
engine  of  the  Charlotte  Dundas  was  of  very  nearly  the 
same  size  ;  and  this  fact,  and  the  visit  of  Fulton  to  Sym- 
mington  in  1801,  as  described  by  the  latter,  have  been  made 
the  basis  of  a  claim  that  Fulton  was  a  copyist  of  the  plans 
of  others.  The  general  accordance  of  the  dimensions  of 
his  boat  on  the  Seine  with  those  of  the  "  Polacca  "  of  Roose- 
velt is  also  made  the  basis  of  similar  claims  by  the  friends 


STEAM-NAVIGATION.  357 

of  the  latter.  It  would  appear,  however,  that  Symming- 
ton's  statement  is  incorrect,  as  Fulton  was  in  France,  ex- 
perimenting with  torpedoes,  at  the  time  (July,  1801 ')  when 
he  is  accused  of  having  obtained  from  the  English  engineer 
the  dimensions  and  a  statement  of  the  performance  of  his 
vessel.  Yet  a  fireman  employed  by  Symmington  has  made 
an  affidavit  to  the  same  statement.  It  is  evident,  however, 
from  what  has  preceded,  that  those  inventors  and  builders 
who  were  at  that  time  working  with  the  object  of  introduc- 
ing the  steamboat  were  usually  well  acquainted  with  what 
had  been  done  by  others,  and  with  what  was  being  done 
by  their  contemporaries  ;  and  it  is  undoubtedly  the  fact 
that  each  profited,  so  far  as  he  was  able,  by  the  experience 
of  others. 

While  in  England,  however,  Fulton  was  certainly  not 
so  entirely  absorbed  in  the  torpedo  experiments  with  which 
he  was  occupied  in  the  years  1804- '6  as  to  forget  his  plans 
for  a  steamboat ;  and  he  saw  the  engine  ordered  by  him  in 
1804  completed  in  the  latter  year,  and  preceded  it  to  New 
York,  sailing  from  Falmouth  in  October,  1806,  and  reaching 
the  United  States  December  13,  1806. 

The  engine  was  soon  received,  and  Fulton  immediately 
contracted  for  a  hull  in  which  to  set  it  up.  Meantime,  Liv- 
ingston had  also  returned  to  the  United  States,  and  the  two 
enthusiasts  worked  together  on  a  larger  steamer  than  any 
which  had  yet  been  constructed. 

In  the  spring  of  1807,  the  "Clermont"  (Fig.  80),  as  the 
new  boat  was  christened,  was  launched  from  the  ship-yard  of 
Charles  Brown,  on  the  East  River,  New  York.  In  August 
the  machinery  was  on  board  and  in  successful  operation. 
The  hull  of  this  boat  was  133  feet  long,  18  wide,  and  9 
deep.  The  boat  soon  made  a  trip  to  Albany,  running  the 
distance  of  150  miles  in  32  hours  running  time,  and  return- 
ing in  30  hours.  The  sails  were  not  used  on  either  occasion. 

1  Woodcraft,  p.  64. 


258 


THE   MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 


This  was  the  first  voyage  of  considerable  length  ever 
made  by  a  steam-vessel ;  and  Fulton,  though  not  to  be 
classed  with  James  Watt  as  an  inventor,  is  entitled  to  the 


Fie.  80.— The  Clermont,  1S07. 


great  honor  of  having  been  the  first  to  make  steam-naviga- 
tion an  every-day  commercial  success,  and  of  having  thus 
made  the  first  application  of  the  steam-engine  to  ship-pro- 
pulsion, which  was  not  followed  by  the  retirement  of  the 


FIG.  81.— Engine  of  the  Clermon 


experimenter  from  the  field  of   his   labors  before  success 
was  permanently  insured. 

The  engine  of  the  Clermont  (Fig.  81)  was  of  rather  pe- 


STEAM-NAVIGATIOX.  259 

culiar  form,  the  piston,  E,  being  coupled  to  the  crank-shaft, 
O,  by  a  bell-crank,  TJfJP,  and  a  connecting-rod,  P  Q,  the 
paddle-wheel  shaft,  Jf  JV,  being  separate  from  the  crank- 
shaft, and  connected  with  the  latter  by  gearing,  O  0,  The 
cylinders  were  24  inches  in  diameter  by  4  feet  stroke.  The 
paddle-wheels  had  buckets  4  feet  long,  with  a  dip  of  2  feet. 
Old  drawings,  made  by  Fulton's  own  hand,  and  showing 
the  engine  as  it  was  in  1808,  and  the  engine  of  a  later 
steamer,  the  Chancellor  Livingston,  are  in  the  lecture-room 
of  the  author  at  the  Stevens  Institute  of  Technology. 

The  voyage  of  the  Clermont  to  Albany  was  attended 
by  some  ludicrous  incidents,  which  found  their  counterparts 
wherever,  subsequently,  steamers  were  for  the  first  time 
introduced.  Mr.  Golden,  the  biographer  of  Fulton,  says 
that  she  was  described,  by  persons  who  had  seen  her  passing 
by  night,  "as  a  monster  moving  on  the  waters,  defying 
wind  and  tide,  and  breathing  flames  and  smoke." 

This  first  steamboat  used  dry  pine  wood  for  fuel,  and 
the  flames  rose  to  a  considerable  distance  above  the  smoke- 
pipe.  When  the  fires  were  disturbed,  mingled  smoke  and 
sparks  would  rise  high  in  the  air.  "  This  uncommon  light," 
says  Golden,  "  first  attracted  the  attention  of  the  crews  of 
other  vessels.  Notwithstanding  the  wind  and  tide  were 
averse  to  its  approach,  they  saw  with  astonishment  that  it 
was  rapidly  coming  toward  them  ;  and  when  it  came  so 
near  that  the  noise  of  the  machinery  and  paddles  was 
heard,  the  crews  (if  what  was  said  in  the  newspapers  of  the 
time  be  true),  in  some  instances,  shrank  beneath  their  decks 
from  the  terrific  sight,  and  left  their  vessels  to  go  on  shore  ; 
while  others  prostrated  themselves,  and  besought  Provi- 
dence to  protect  them  from  the  approach  of  the  horrible 
monster  which  was  marching  on  the  tides,  and  lighting  its 
path  by  the  fires  which  it  vomited." 

In  the  Clermont,  Fulton  used  several  of  the  now  char- 
acteristic features  of  the  American  river  steamboat,  and 
subsequently  introduced,  others.  His  most  important  and 


260  THE  MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 

creditable  work,  aside  from  that  of  the  introduction  of  the 
steamboat  into  every-day  use,  was  the  experimental  deter- 
mination of  the  magnitude  and  the  laws  of  ship-resistance, 
and  the  systematic  proportioning  of  vessel  and  machinery 
to  the  work  to  be  done  by  them. 

The  success  of  the  Clermont  on  the  trial-trip  was  such 
that  Fulton  soon  after  advertised  the  vessel  as  a  regular 
passenger-boat  between  New  York  and  Albany.1 

During  the  next  winter  the  Clermont  was  repaired  and 
enlarged,  and  in  the  summer  of  1808  was  again  on  the 
route  to  Albany  ;  and,  meantime,  two  new  steamboats — the 
Raritan  and  the  Car  of  Neptune — had  been  built  by  Ful- 
ton. In  the  year  1811  he  built  the  Paragon.  Both  of  the 

1  A  newspaper-slip  in  the  scrap-book  of  the  author  has  the  following  r 
"  The  traveler  of  to  day,  as  he  goes  on  board  the  great  steamboats  St. 
John  or  Drew,  can  scarcely  imagine  the  difference  between  such  floating 
palaces  and  the  wee-bit  punts  on  which  our  fathers  were  wafted  60  years 
ago.  We  may,  however,  get  some  idea  of  the  sort  of  thing  then  in  use  by 
a  perusal  of  the  steamboat  announcements  of  that  time,  two  of  which  are  as 
follows : 

["  Copy  of  an  Advertisement  taken  from  the  Albany  Gazette,  dated  Septem- 
ber, 1807.] 

"  The  North  River  Steamboat  will  leave  Pauler's  Hook  Ferry  [now  Jer- 
sey City]  on  Friday,  the  4th  of  September,  at  9  in  the  morning,  and  arrive 
at  Albany  on  Saturday,  at  9  in  the  afternoon.  Provisions,  good  berths, 
and  accommodations  are  provided. 

"  The  charge  to  each  passenger  is  as  follows : 

"  To  Newburg dols.  3,    time  14  hours. 

"    Poughkeepsie "     4,       "     17      " 

"    Esopus "      5,       "     20      " 

"    Hudson "      51^,"     SO      " 

"   Albany «     7,       "     36      " 

"  For  places,  apply  to  William  Vandervoort,  No.  48  Courtlandt  Street, 
on  the  corner  of  Greenwich  Street. 
"September?,,  1807. 

["  Extract  from  the  New   York  Evening  Post,  dated  October  2,  1807.] 

"  Mr.  Fulton's  new-invented  Steamboat,  which  is  fitted  up  in  a  neat  style 
for  passengers,  and  is  intended  to  run  from  New  York  to  Albany  as  a 
Packet,  left  here  this  morning  with  90  passengers,  against  a  strong  head- 
wind. Notwithstanding  which,  it  was  judged  she  moved  through  the  waters 
at  the  rate  of  six  miles  an  hour." 


STEAM-XAVIGATION.  261 

two  vessels  last  named  were  of  nearly  double  the  size  of  the 
Clermont.  A  steam  ferry-boat  was  built  to  ply  between 
New  York  and  Jersey  City  in  1812,  and  the  next  year  two 
others,  to  connect  the  metropolis  with  Brooklyn.  These 
were  "  twin-boats,"  the  two  parallel  hulls  being  connected 
by  a  "  bridge  "  or  deck  common  to  both.  The  Jersey  ferry 
was  crossed  in  fifteen  minutes,  the  distance  being  a  mile 
and  a  half.  To-day,  the  time  occupied  at  the  same  ferry 
is  about  ten  minutes.  Fulton's  ferry-boat  carried,  at  one 
load,  8  carriages,  and  about  30  horses,  and  still  had  room 
for  300  or  400  foot-passengers.  Fulton  also  designed  steam- 
vessels  for  use  on  the  Western  rivers,  and,  in  1815,  some  of 
his  boats  were  started  as  "packets"  on  the  line  between 
New  York  and  Providence,  R.  I. 

Meantime,  the  War  of  1812  was  in  progress,  and  Fulton 
designed  a  steam  vessel-of-war,  which  was  then  considered 
a  wonderfully  formidable  craft.  His  plans  were  submitted 
to  a  commission  of  experienced  naval  officers,  among  whom 
were  Commodores  Decatur  and  Perry,  Captain  John  Paul 
Jones,  Captain  Evans,  and  others  whose  names  are  still  fa- 
miliar, and  were  favorably  commended.  Fulton  proposed 
to  build  a  steam-vessel  capable  of  carrying  a  heavy  battery, 
and  of  steaming  four  miles  an  hour.  The  ship  was  to  be 
fitted  with  furnaces  for  red-hot  shot.  Some  of  her  guns 
were  to  be  discharged  below  the  water-line.  The  estimated 
cost  was  $320,000. 

The  construction  of  the  vessel  was  authorized  by  Con- 
gress in  March,  1814  ;  the  keel  was  laid  June  20,  1814,  and 
the  vessel  was  launched  October  29th  of  the  same  year. 

The  "  Fulton  the  First,"  as  she  was  called,  was  considered 
an  enormous  vessel  at  that  time.  The  hull  was  double,  156 
feet  long,  56  feet  wide,  and  20  feet  deep,  measuring  2,475 
tons.  In  the  following  May  the  ship  was  ready  for  her 
engine,  and  in  July  was  so  far  completed  as  to  steam,  on 
a  trial-trip,  to  the  ocean  at  Sandy  Hook  and  back — 53  miles 
— in  8  hours  and  20  minutes.  In  September  of  the  same 


262  THE   MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 

year,  with  armament  and  stores  on  board,  the  same  route 
was  traversed  again,  the  vessel  making  5^  miles  an  hour. 
The  vessel,  as  thus  completed,  had  a  double  hull,  each 
about  20  feet  longer  than  the  Clermont,  and  separated  by  a 
space  15  feet  across.  Her  engine,  having  a  steam-cylinder 


FIG.  82.— Launch  of  the  Fulton  the  First,  1S04. 

48  inches  in  diameter  and  of  5  feet  stroke  of  piston,  was 
furnished  with  steam  by  a  copper  boiler  22  feet  long,  12 
feet  wide,  and  8  feet  high,  and  turned  a  wheel  between  the 
two  hulls  which  was  16  feet  in  diameter,  and  carried 
"  floats  "  or  "  buckets "  14  feet  long,  and  with  a  dip  of  4 
feet.  The  engine  was  in  one  of  the  two  hulls,  and  the 
boiler  in  the  other.  The  sides,  at  the  gun-deck,  were  4  feet 
10  inches  thick,  and  her  spar-deck  was  surrounded  by  heavy 
musket-proof  bulwarks.  The  armament  consisted  of  30 
32-pounders,  which  were  intended  to  discharge  red-hot 
shot.  There  was  one  heavy  mast  for  each  hull,  fitted  with 
large  latteen  sails.  Each  end  of  each  hull  was  fitted  with 
a  rudder.  Large  pumps  were  carried,  which  were  intended 
to  throw  heavy  streams  of  water  upon  the  decks  of  the  ene- 
my, with  a  view  to  disabling  the  foe  by  wetting  his  ord- 
nance and  ammunition.  A  submarine  gun  was  to  have 
been  carried  at  each  bow,  to  discharge  shot  weighing  100 
pounds,  at  a  depth  of  10  feet  below  the  water-lino, 


STEAM-NAVIGATION.  263 

This  was  the  first  application  of  the  steam-engine  to 
naval  purposes,  and,  for  the  time,  it  was  an  exceedingly 
creditable  one.  Fulton,  however,  did  not  live  to  see  the 
ship  completed.  He  was  engaged  in  a  contest  with  Liv- 
ingston, who  was  then  endeavoring  to  obtain  permission 
from  the  State  of  New  Jersey  to  operate  a  line  of  steam- 
boats in  the  waters  of  the  Hudson  River  and  New  York 
Bay,  and,  while  returning  from  attending  a  session  of  the 
Legislature  at  Trenton,  in  January,  1815,  was  exposed  to 
the  weather  on  the  bay  at  a  time  when  he  was  ill  prepared 
to  withstand  it.  He  was  taken  ill,  and  died  February  24th  of 
that  year.  His  death  was  mourned  as  a  national  calamity. 

From  the  above  brief  sketch  of  this  distinguished  man 
and  his  work,  it  is  seen  that,  although  Robert  Fulton  is  not 
entitled  to  distinction  as  an  inventor,  he  was  one  of  the 
ablest,  most  persistent,  and  most  successful  of  those  who 
have  done  so  much  for  the  world  by  the  introduction  of  the 
inventions  of  others.  He  was  an  intelligent  engineer  and 
an  enterprising  business-man,  whose  skill,  acuteness,  and 
energy  have  given  the  world  the  fruits  of  the  inventive 
genius  of  all  who  preceded  him,  and  have  thus  justly 
earned  for  him  a  fame  that  can  never  be  lost. 

Fulton  had  some  active  and  enterprising  rivals. 

Oliver  Evans  had,  in  1801  or  1802,  sent  one  of  his  en- 
gines, of  about  150  horse-power,  to  New  Orleans,  for  the 
purpose  of  using  it  to  propel  a  vessel  owned  by  Messrs. 
McKeever  and  Valcourt,  which  was  there  awaiting  it.  The 
engine  was  actually  set  up  in  the  boat,  but  at  a  low  stage 
of  the  river,  and  no  trial  could  be  made  until  the  river 
should  again  rise,  some  months  later.  Having  no  funds  to 
carry  them  through  so  long  a  period,  Evans's  agents  were 
induced  to  remove  the  engine  again,  and  to  set  it  up  in  a 
saw-mill,  where  it  created  great  astonishment  by  its  ex- 
traordinary performance  in  sawing  lumber.  ^ 

Livingston  and  Roosevelt  were  also  engaged  in  experi- 
ments quite  as  early  as  Fulton,  and  perhaps  earlier. 
13 


264  THE   MODERN   STEAM-ENGINE. 

The  prize  gained  by  Fulton  was,  however,  most  closely 
contested  by  Colonel  JOHN  STEVENS,  of  Hoboken,  who  has 
been  already  mentioned  in  connection  with  the  early  his- 
tory of  railroads,  and  who  had  been  since  1791  engaged  in 
similar  experiments.  In  1789  he  had  petitioned  the  Legis- 
lature of  the  State  of  New  York  for  a  grant  similar  to  that 
accorded  to  Livingston,  and  he  then  stated  that  his  plans 
were  complete,  and  on  paper. 

In  1804,  while  Fulton  was  in  Europe,  Stevens  had  com- 
pleted a  steamboat,  68  feet  long  and  of  14  feet  beam,  which 
combined  novelties  and  merits  of  design  in  a  manner  that 
exhibited  the  best  possible  evidence  of  remarkable  inventive 
talent,  as  well  as  of  the  most  perfect  appreciation  of  the 
nature  of  the  problem  which  he  had  proposed  to  himself  to 
solve.  Its  boiler  (Fig.  83)  was  of  what  is  now  known  as  the 
water-tubular  variety.  It  was  quite  similar  to  some  now 


FIG.  83.— Section  of  Steam-Boiler,  1S04. 

known  as  sectional  boilers,  and  contained  100  tubes  2  inches 
in  diameter  and  18  inches  long,  each  fastened  at  one  end  to 
a  central  water-leg  and  steam-drum,  and  plugged  at  the 
other  end.  The  flames  from  the  furnace  passed  around  and 
among  the  tubes,  the  water  being  inside  them.  The  engine 
(Fig.  84)  was  a  direct-acting  high-pressure  condensing  en- 
gine, having  a  10-inch  cylinder,  2  feet  stroke  of  piston,  and 
drove  a  screw  having  four  blades,  and  of  a  form  which,  even 
to-day,  appears  quite  good.  The  whole  is  a  most  remark- 
able piece  of  early  engineering. 


STEAM-NAVIGATION. 


265 


A  model  of  this  little  steamer,  built  in  1804,  is  preserved 
in  the  lecture-room  of  the  Department  of  Mechanical  Engi- 
neering at  the  Stevens  Institute  of  Technology  ;  and  the 
machinery  itself,  consisting  of  the  high-pressure  "sectional" 


FIG.  SI.— Engine,  Boiler,  and  Screw-Propellers  used  by  St 


or  "safety"  tubular  boiler,  as  it  would  be  called  to-day,  the 
high-pressure  condensing  engine,  with  rotating  valves,  and 
twin  screw-propellers,  as  just  described,  is  given  a  place  of 
honor  in  the  model-room,  or  museum,  where  it  contrasts 


ins's  Screw  Steamer,  1S04. 


singularly  with  the  mechanism  contributed  to  the  collection 
by  manufacturers  and  inventors  of  our  own  time.  The  hub 
and  blade  of  a  single  screw,  also  used  with  the  same  ma- 
chinery, is  likewise  to  be  seen  there. 


266  THE   MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 

Stevens  seems  to  have  been  the  first  to  fully  recognize 
the  importance  of  the  principle  involved  in  the  construction 
of  the  sectional  steam-boiler.  His  eldest  son,  John  Cox 
Stevens,  was  in  Great  Britain  in  the  year  1805,  and,  while 
there,  patented  another  modification  of  this  type  of  boiler. 
In  his  specification,  he  details  both  the  method  of  construc- 
tion and  the  principles  which  determine  its  form.  He  says 
that  he  describes  this  invention  as  it  was  made  known  to 
him  by  his  father,  and  adds  : 

"  From  a  series  of  experiments  made  in  France,  in  1790, 
by  M.  Belamour,  under  the  auspices  of  the  Royal  Academy 
of  Sciences,  it  has  been  found  that,  within  a  certain  range 
the  elasticity  of  steam  is  nearly  doubled  by  every  additioi 
of  temperature  equal  to  30°  of  Fahrenheit's  thermometer. 
These  experiments  were  carried  no  higher  than  280°,  at 
which  temperature  the  elasticity  of  steam  was  found  equal 
to  about  four  times  the  pressure  of  the  atmosphere.  By 
experiments  which  have  lately  been  made  by  myself,  the 
elasticity  of  steam  at  the  temperature  of  boiling  oil,  which 
has  been  estimated  at  about  600°,  was  found  to  equal  40 
times  the  pressure  of  the  atmosphere. 

"  To  the  discovery  of  this  principle  or  law,  which  ob- 
tains when  water  assumes  a  state  of  vapor,  I  certainly 
can  lay  no  claim  ;  but  to  the  application  of  it,  upon  certain 
principles,  to  the  improvement  of  the  steam-engine,  I  do 
claim  exclusive  right. 

"It  is  obvious  that,  to  derive  advantage  from  an  ap- 
plication of  this  principle,  it  is  absolutely  necessary  that 
the  vessel  or  vessels  for  generating  steam  should  have 
strength  sufficient  to  withstand  the  great  pressure  from  an 
increase  of  elasticity  in  the  steam  ;  but  this  pressure  is  in- 
creased or  diminished  in  proportion  to  the  capacity  of  the 
containing  vessel.  The  principle,  then,  of  this  invention 
consists  in  forming  a  boiler  by  means  of  a  system,  or  com- 
bination of  a  number  of  small  vessels,  instead  of  using,  as 
in  the  usual  mode,  one  large  one  ;  the  relative  strength  of 


STEAM-NAVIGATION.  267 

the  materials  of  which  these  vessels  are  composed  increas- 
ing in  proportion  to  the  diminution  of  capacity.  It  will 
readily  occur  that  there  are  an  infinite  variety  of  possible 
modes  of  effecting  such  combinations  ;  but,  from  the  nature 
of  the  case,  there  are  certain  limits  beyond  which  it  becomes 
impracticable  to  carry  on  improvement.  In  the  boiler  I  am 
about  to  describe,  I  apprehend  that  the  improvement  is  car- 
ried to  the  utmost  extent  of  which  the  principle  is  capable. 
Suppose  a  plate  of  brass  of  one  foot  square,  in  which  a 
number  of  holes  are  perforated  ;  into  each  of  which  holes  is 
fixed  one  end  of  a  copper  tube,  of  about  an  inch  in  diam- 
eter and  two  feet  long  ;  and  the  other  ends  of  these  tubes 
inserted  in  like  manner  into  a  similar  piece  of  brass  ;  the 
tubes,  to  insure  their  tightness,  to  be  cas  in  the  plates  ; 
these  plates  are  to  be  inclosed  at  each  end  of  the  pipes  by 
a  strong  cap  of  cast-iron  or  brass,  so  as  to  leave  a  space  of 
an  inch  or  two  between  the  plates  or  ends  of  the  pipes  and 
the  cast-iron  cap  at  each  end  ;  the  caps  at  each  end  are  to 
be  fastened  by  screw-bolts  passing  through  them  into  the 
plates  ;  the  necessary  supply  of  water  is  to  be  injected  by 
means  of  a  forcing-pump  into  the  cap  at  one  end,  and 
through  a  tube  inserted  into  the  cap  at  the  other  end  the 
steam  is  to  be  conveyed  to  the  cylinder  of  the  steam-engine  ; 
the  whole  is  then  to  be'  encircled  in  brick-work  or  masonry 
in  the  usual  manner,  placed  either  horizontally  or  perpen- 
dicularly, at  option. 

"  I  conceive  that  the  boiler  above  described  embraces 
the  most  eligible  mode  of  applying  the  principle  before 
mentioned,  and  that  it  is  unnecessary  to  give  descriptions 
of  the  variations  in  form  and  construction  that  may  be 
adopted,  especially  as  these  forms  may  be  diversified  in 
many  different  modes." 

Boilers  of  the  character  of  those  described  in  the  speci- 
fication given  above  were  used  on  the  locomotive  built  by 
John  Stevens  in  1824-'25,  and  one  of  them  remains  in  the 
collections  of  the  Stevens  Institute  of  Technology. 


268  THE   MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 

The  use  of  such  a  boiler  70  years  ago  is  even  more  re- 
markable than  the  adoption  of  the  screw-propeller,  in  such 
excellent  proportions,  80  years  before  the  labors  of  Smith 
and  of  Ericsson  brought  the  screw  into  general  use  ;  and 
we  have,  in  this  strikingly  original  combination,  as  good 
evidence  of  the  existence  of  unusual  engineering  talent  in 
this  great  engineer  as  we  found  of  his  political  and  states- 
manlike ability  in  his  efforts  to  forward  the  introduction  of 
railways. 

Colonel  John  Stevens  designed  a  peculiar  form  of  iron- 
clad in  the  year  1812,  which  has  been  since  reproduced  by 
no  less  distinguished  and  successful  an  engineer  than  the 
late  John  Elder,  of  Glasgow,  Scotland.  It  consisted  of  a 
saucer-shaped  hull,  carrying  a  heavy  battery,  and  plated 
with  iron  of  ample  thickness  to  resist  the  shot  fired  from 
the  heaviest  ordnance  then  known.  This  vessel  was  secured 
to  a  swivel,  and  was  anchored  in  the  channel  to  be  defended. 
A  set  of  screw-propellers,  driven  by  steam-engines,  and  sit- 
uated beneath  the  vessel,  where  they  were  safe  against 
injury  by  shot,  were  so  arranged  as  to  permit  the  vessel  to 
be  rapidly  revolved  about  its  centre.  As  each  gun  was 
brought  into  line  of  fire,  it  was  discharged,  and  was  then 
reloaded  before  coming  around  again.  This  was  probably 
the  earliest  embodiment  of  the  now  well-established  "  Mon- 
itor" principle.  It  was  probably  the  first  iron-clad  ever 
designed.  It  has  recently  been  again  brought  out  and  in- 
troduced into  the  Russian  navy,  and  is  there  called  the 
"Popoffka." 

The  first  of  Stevens's  boats  performed  so  well,  that  he 
immediately  built  another  one,  using  the  same  engine  as 
before,  but  employing  a  larger  boiler,  and  propelling  the 
vessel  by  twin  screws,  the  latter  being  another  instance  of 
his  use  of  a  device  brought  forward  long  afterward  as  new, 
and  frequently  adopted.  This  boat  was  sufficiently  success- 
ful to  prove  the  practicability  of  making  steam-navigation  a 
commercial  success  ;  and  Stevens,  assisted  by  his  sons,  built 


STEAM-NAVIGATION.  269 

a  boat  which  he  named  the  "  Phoenix,"  and  made  the  first 
trial  in  1807,  but  just  too  late  to  anticipate  Fulton.  This 
boat  was  driven  by  paddle-wheels. 

The  Phoenix,  being  shut  out  of  the  waters  of  the  State 
of  New  York  by  the  monopoly  held  by  Fulton  and  Liv- 


FIG.  86.— Stevens's  Twin-Screw  Steamer,  1S05. 


ingston,  was  used  for  a  time  between  New  York  and  New 
Brunswick,  and  then,  anticipating  a  better  pecuniary  return, 
it  was  concluded  to  send  her  to  Philadelphia,  to  ply  on  the 
Delaware. 

At  that  time  no  canal  offered  the  opportunity  to  make 
an  inland  passage  ;  and  in  June,  1808,  Robert  L.  Stevens, 
a  son  of  John,  started  with  her  to  make  the  passage  by  sea. 
Although  meeting  a  gale  of  wind,  he  arrived  at  Philadel- 
phia safely,  having  been  the  first  to  trust  himself  on  the 
open  sea  in  a  vessel  relying  entirely  upon  steam-power. 

From  this  time  forward  the  Stevenses,  father  and  sons, 
continued  to  constnict  steam-vessels  ;  and,  after  the  break- 
ing down  of  the  Fulton  monopoly  by  the  courts,  they  built 
the  most  successful  steamboats  that  ran  on  the  Hudson 
River. 

After  Fulton  and  Stevens  had  thus  led  the  way,  steam- 
navigation  was  introduced  very  rapidly  on  both  sides  of  the 
ocean  ;  and  on  the  Mississippi  the  number  of  boats  set  afloat 
was  soon  large  enough  to  fulfill  Evans's  prediction  that  the 


270 


THE   MODERN   STEAM-ENGINE. 


navigation  of  that  river  would  ultimately  be  effected  by 
steam-vessels. 

The  changes  and  improvements  which,  during  the  20 
years  succeeding  the  time  of  Fulton  and  of  John  Stevens, 
gradually  led  to  the  adoption  of  the  now  recognized  type 
of  "  American  river-boat "  and  its  steam-engine,  were  prin- 
cipally made  by  that  son  of  the  senior  Stevens,  who  has 
already  been  mentioned — ROBEKT  L.  STEVENS — and  who 
became  known  later  as  the  designer  and  builder  of  the  first 
well-planned  iron-clad  ever  constructed,  the  Stevens  Bat- 
tery. Much  of  his  best  work  was  done  during  his  father's 
lifetime. 


Robert  L.  Stevens. 


He  made  many  extended  and  most  valuable,  as  well 
as  interesting,  experiments  on  ship-propulsion,  expending 
much  time  and  large  sums  of  money  upon  them  ;  and  many 
years  before  they  became  generally  understood,  he  had  ar- 


STEAM-NAVIGATION.  271 

rived  at  a  knowledge  not  only  of  the  laws  governing  the 
variation  of  resistance  at  excessive  speeds,  but  he  had  de- 
termined, and  had  introduced  into  his  practice,  those  forms 
of  least  resistance  and  those  graceful  water-lines  which  have 
only  recently  distinguished  the  practice  of  other  successful 
naval  architects. 

Referring  to  his  invaluable  services,  President  King, 
who  seems  to  have  been  the  first  to  thoroughly  appreciate 
the  immense  amount  of  original  invention  and  the  surpris- 
ing excellence  of  the  engineering  of  this  family,  in  a  lecture 
delivered  in  New  York  in  1851,  gave,  for  the  first  time,  a 
connected  and  probably  accurate  description  of  their  work, 
upon  which  nearly  all  later  accounts  have  been  based. 

Young  Stevens  began  working  in  his  father's  machine- 
shop  in  1804  or  1805,  when  a  mere  boy,  and  thus  acquired 
at  a  very  early  age  that  familiarity  with  practical  details  of 
work  and  of  business  which  is  essential  to  perfect  success. 
It  was  he  who  introduced  the  now  common  "  hollow  water- 
line  "  in  the  Phoenix,  and  thus  anticipated  the  claims  of  the 
builders  of  the  once  famous  "  Baltimore  clippers,"  and  of 
the  inventors  of  the  "  wave-line  "  form  of  vessels.  In  the 
same  vessel  he  adopted  a  feathering  paddle-wheel  and  the 
guard-beam  now  universally  seen  in  our  river  steamboats. 

As  usually  constructed,  this  arrangement  of  float  is  as 
shown  in  Fig.  87.  The  rods,  FF,  connect  the  eccentrical- 
ly-set collar,  G,  carried  on  H,  a  pin  mounted  on  the  paddle- 
beam  outside  the  wheel,  or  an  eccentric  secured  to  the 
vessel,  with  the  short  arms,  D  D,  by  which  the  paddles  are 
turned  upon  the  pins,  E  E.  A  is  the  centre  of  the  paddle- 
wheel,  and  C  C  are  arms.  Circular  hoops,  or  bands,  con- 
nect all  of  the  arms,  each  of  which  carries  a  float.  They 
are  all  thus  tied  together,  forming  a  very  firm  and  power- 
ful combination  to  resist  external  forces. 

The  steamboat  Philadelphia  was  built  in  the  year  1813, 
and  the  young  naval  architect  took  advantage  of  the  oppor- 
tunity to  introduce  several  new  devices,  including  screw- 


272 


THE   MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 


bolts  in  place  of  tree-nails,  and  diagonal  knees  of  wood  and 
of  iron.  Two  years  later  he  altered  the  engines  of  this  boat, 
and  arranged  them  to  work  steam  expansively.  A  little 
later  he  commenced  using  anthracite  coal,  which  had  been 
discovered  in  1791  by  Philip  Ginter,  and  introduced  at 
Wilkesbarre,  Pa.,  in  the  smith-shops,  some  years  before  the 
Revolution.  It  had  been  used  in  a  peculiar  grate  devised  by 
Judge  Fell,  of  that  town,  in  1808.  Oliver  Evans  also  had 
used  it  in  stoves  even  earlier  than  the  latter  date,  and  at 


•The  Feathering  Paddle -Wheel. 


about  the  same  time  it  had  been  used  in  the  blast-furnace 1 
at  Kingston.  Stevens  was  the  first  of  whom  we  have  rec- 
ord who  was  thoroughly  successful  in  using,  as  a  steam-coal, 
the  new  and  almost  unmanageable  fuel.  He  fitted  up  the 

1  Bishop. 


STEAM-NAVIGATION.  273 

boiler  of  the  steamboat  Passaic  for  it  in  1818,  and  adopted 
anthracite  as  a  steaming-coal.  He  used  it  in  a  cupola-fur- 
nace in  the  same  year,  and  its  use  then  rapidly  became  gen- 
eral in  the  Eastern  States. 

Stevens  continued  his  work  of  improving  the  beam-en- 
gine for  many  years.  He  designed  the  now  universally-used 
"  skeleton-beam,"  which  is  one  of  the  characteristic  features 
of  the  American  engine,  and  placed  the  first  example  of  this 
light  and  elegant,  yet  strong,  construction  on  the  steamer 
Hoboken  in  the  year  1822.  He  built  the  Trenton,  which  was 
then  considered  an  extraordinarily  powerful,  fast,  and  hand- 
some vessel,  two  .years  afterward,  and  placed  the  two  boilers 
on  the  guards — a  custom  which  is  still  general  on  the  river 
steamboats  of  the  Eastern  States.  In  this  vessel  he  also 
adopted  the  plan  of  making  the  paddle-wheel  floats  in  two 
parts,  placing  one  above  the  other,  and  securing  the  upper 
half  on  the  forward  and  the  lower  half  on  the  after  side  of 
the  arm,  thus  obtaining  a  smoother  action  of  the  wheel, 
and  less  loss  by  oblique  pressures. 

In  1827  he  built  the  North  America  (Fig.  88),  one  of 
his  largest  and  most  successful  steamers,  a  vessel  fitted  with 
a  pair  of  engines  each  44^  inches  in  diameter  of  cylinder 
and  8  feet  stroke  of  piston,  making  24  revolutions  per  min- 
ute, driving  the  boat  1'5  to  16  miles  an  hour.  Anticipating 
difficulty  in  keeping  the  long,  light,  shallow  vessel  in  shape 
when  irregularly  laden,  and  when  steaming  at  the  high 
speed  expected  to  be  obtained  when  her  powerful  engine 
was  exerting  its  maximum  effort,  he  adopted  the  expedient 
of  stiffening  the  hull  by  means  of  a  truss  of  simple  form. 
This  proved  thoroughly  satisfactory,  and  the  "  hog-frame," 
as  it  has  since  been  inelegantly  but  universally  called,  is 
still  one  of  the  peculiar  features  of  every  American  river- 
steamer  of  any  considerable  size.  It  was  in  the  North 
America,  also,  that  he  first  introduced  the  artificial  blast 
for  forcing  the  fires,  which  is  still  another  detail  of  now 
usual  practice. 


274 


THE   MODERN   STEAM-ENGINE. 


Stevens  next  turned  his  attention  to  the  engine  again, 
and  adopted  spring  bearings  under  the  paddle-shaft  of  the 


STEAM-NAVIGATION. 


275 


New  Philadelphia  in  1828,  and  fitted  the  steam-cylinder 
with  the  "  double-poppet "  valve,  which  is  now  universally 
used  on  beam-engines.  This  consists  of  two  disk-valves, 
connected  by  the  valve-spindle.  The  disks  are  of  unequal 
sizes,  the  smaller  passing  through  the  seat  of  the  larger. 
When  seated,  the  pressure  of  the  steam  is,  in  the  steam- 
valve,  taken  on  the  upper  side  of  the  larger  and  the  lower 
side  of  the  smaller  disk,  thus  producing  a  partial  balancing 
of  the  valve,  and  rendering  it  easy  to  work  the  heaviest  en- 
gine by  the  hand-gear.  The  two  valve-seats  are  formed  in 
the  top  and  the  bottom,  respectively,  of  the  steam-passage 
leading  to  the  cylinder  ;  and  when  the  valve  is  raised,  the 
steam  enters  at  the  top  and  the  bottom  at  the  same  time, 
and  the  two  currents,  uniting,  flow  together  into  the  steam- 
cylinder.  The  same  form  of  valve  is  used  as  an  exhaust- 
valve. 

At  about  the  same  time  he  built  the  now  standard  form 
of  return  tubular  boilers  for  moderate  pressures.  In  the 
figure,  S  is  the  steam  and  W  the  water  space,  and  F  the 
furnace.  The  direction  of  the  currents  of  smoke  and  gas 
are  shown  by  the  arrows. 


FIG.  89. — Stevens's  Return  Tubular  Boiler, 


Some    years   later    (1840),   Stevens    commenced    using 
steam-packed  pistons  on  the  Trenton,  in  which  steam  was 


276  THE   MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 

admitted  by  self-adjusting  valves  behind  the  metallic  pack- 
ing-rings, setting  them  out  more  effectively  than  did  the 
steel  springs  then  (and  still)  usually  employed. 

His  pistons,  thus  fitted,  worked  well  for  many  years.  A 
set  of  the  small  brass  check-valves  used  in  a  piston  of  this 
kind,  built  by  Stevens,  and  preserved  in  the  cabinets  of  the 
Stevens  Institute  of  Technology,  are  good  evidence  of  the 
ingenuity  and  excellent  workmanship  which  distinguished 
the  machinery  constructed  under  the  direction  of  this  great 
engineer. 

The  now  familiar  "Stevens  cut-off,"  a  peculiar  device 
for  securing  the  expansion  of  steam  in  the  steam-cylinder, 
was  the  invention  (1841)  of  Robert  L.  Stevens  and  a  nephew, 
who  inherited  the  same  constructive  talent  which  distin- 
guished the  first  of  these  great  men — Mr.  Francis  B.  Ste- 
vens. In  this  form  of  valve-gear,  the  steam  and  exhaust 
valves  are  independently  worked  by  separate  eccentrics,  the 
latter  being  set  in  the  usual  manner,  opening  and  closing 
the  exhaust-passages  just  before  the  crank  passes  its  centre. 
The  steam-eccentric  is  so  placed  that  the'  steam-valve  is 
opened  as  usual,  but  closed  when  but  about  one-half  the 
stroke  has  been  made.  This  result  is  accomplished  by  giv- 
ing the  eccentric  a  greater  throw  than 
is  required  by  the  motion  of  the  valve, 
and  permitting  it  to  move  through  a 
portion  of  its  path  without  moving  the 
valve.  Thus,  in  Fig.  90,  if  A  B  be  the 
direction  of  motion  of  the  eccentric- 
rod,  the  valve  would  ordinarily  open 
the  steam-port  when  the  eccentric  as- 
sumes the  position  0  C,  closing  when 
the  eccentric  has  passed  around  to  0  D.  With  the  Stevens 
valve-gear,  the  valve  is  opened  when  the  eccentric  reaches 
O  E,  and  closes  when  it  arrives  at  0  F.  The  steam-valve 
of  the  opposite  end  of  the  cylinder  is  open  while  the  eccen- 
tric is  moving  from  0 M to  OK.  Between  K and  E,  and 


STEAM-NAVIGATION.  277 

between  J^and  M,  both  valves  are  seated.  H B  is  propor- 
tional to  the  lift  of  the  valve,  and  0  H  to  the  motion  of 
the  valve-gear  when  out  of  contact  with  the  valve-lifters. 
While  the  crank  is  moving  through  an  arc,  EF,  steam  is 
entering  the  cylinder  ;  from  F  to  M  the  steam  is  expand- 
ing. At  M  the  stroke  is  completed,  and  the  other  steam- 
valve  opens.  The  ratio  -^rj-  is  the  ratio  of  expansion. 

This  form  of  cut-off  motion  is  still  a  very  usual  one, 
and  can  be  seen  in  nearly  all  steamers  in  the  United  States 
not  using  the  device  of  Sickles.  It  was  at  about  this  time, 
also,  that  Stevens,  having  succeeded  his  father  in  the  busi- 
ness of  introducing  the  steam-engine  in  land-transportation, 
as  well  as  on  the  water,  adopted  the  use  of  steam  expansive- 
ly on  the  locomotives  of  the  Camden  &  Amboy  Railroad, 
which  was  controlled  and  built  by  capital  furnished  princi- 
pally by  the  Messrs.  Stevens.  He  at  the  same  time  con- 
structed eight-wheeled  engines  for  heavy  work,  and  adopted 
anthracite  coal  as  fuel.  In  the  latter  change  he  was  thor- 
oughly successful,  and  the  same  improvement  was  made 
with  engines  built  for  fast  traffic  in  1848. 

The  most  remarkable  of  all  the  applications  of  steam- 
power  proposed  by  Robert  L.  Stevens  was  that  known  as 
the  Stevens  Steam  Iron-Clad  Battery.  As  has  already  been 
stated,  Colonel  John  Stevens  had  proposed,  as  early  as  1812, 
to  build  a  circular  or  saucer-shaped  iron-clad,  like  those 
built  60  years  later  for  the  Russian  Navy.  Nothing  was 
done,  however,  although  the  son  revived  the  idea  in  a  modi- 
fied form  20  years  afterward.  In  the  years  1813-'14,  the 
war  with  England  being  then  in  progress,  he  invented, 
after  numerous  and  hazardous  experiments,  an  elongated 
shell,  to  be  fired  from  ordinary  smooth-bored  cannon.  Hav- 
ing perfected  this  invention,  he  sold  the  secret  to  the 
United  States,  after  making  experiments  to  prove  their  de- 
structiveness  so  decisive  as  to  leave  no  doubt  of  the  effi- 
cacy of  such  projectiles. 


278  THE   MODERN   STEAM-ENGINE. 

As  early  as  1837  he  had  perfected  a  plan  of  an  iron-clad 
war-vessel,  and  in  August,  1841,  his  brothers,  James  C.  and 
Edwin  A.  Stevens,  representing  Robert  L.,  addressed  a 
letter  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  proposing  to  build  an 
iron-clad  vessel  of  high  speed,  with  all  its  machinery  below 
the  water-line,  and  having  submerged  screw-propellers. 
The  armament  was  to  consist  of  the  most  powerful  rifled 
guns,  loading  at  the  breech,  and  provided  with  elongated 
shot  and  shell.  In  the  year  1842,  having  contracted  to  build 
for  the  United  States  Government  a  large  war-steamer  on 
this  plan,  which  should  be  shot  and  shell  proof,  Robert  L. 
Stevens  built  a  steamboat  at  Bordentown,  for  the  sole  pur- 
pose of  experimenting  on  the  forms  and  curves  of  propeller- 
blades,  as  compared  with  side-wheels,  and  continued  his  ex- 
periments for  many  months.  After  some  delay,  during 
which  Mr.  Stevens  and  his  brothers  were  engaged  with  their 
experiments  and  in  perfecting  their  plans,  the  keel  of  an 
iron-clad  was  laid  down  in  a  dry-dock  which  had  been  con- 
structed for  the  purpose  at  great  cost.  This  vessel  was  to 
have  been  250  feet  long,  of  40  feet  beam,  and  28  feet  deep. 
The  machinery  was  designed  to  furnish  700  indicated  horse- 
power. The  plating  was  proposed  to  be  4£  inches  thick — 
the  same  thickness  of  armor  as  was  adopted  10  years  later 
by  the  French  for  their  comparatively  rude  constructions. 

In  1854,  such  marked  progress  had  been  made  in  the 
construction  of  ordnance  that  Mr.  Stevens  was  no  longer 
willing  to  proceed  with  the  original  plans,  fearing  that, 
were  the  ship  completed,  it  might  prove  not  invulnerable, 
and  might  throw  some  discredit  upon  its  designer,  as  well 
as  upon  the  navy  of  which  it  was  to  form  a  part.  The 
work,  which  had,  in  those  years  of  peace,  progressed  very 
slowly  and  intermittently,  was  therefore  stopped  entirely, 
the  vessel  given  up,  and  in  1854  the  keel  of  a  ship  of  vastly 
greater  size  and  power  was  laid  down.  The  new  design 
was  415  feet  long,  of  45  feet  beam,  and  of  something  over 
5,000  tons  displacement.  The  thickness  of  armor  proposed 


STEAM-NAVIGATION.  279 

was  6f  inches — 2£  inches  thicker  than  that  of  the  first 
French  and  British  iron-clads — and  the  machinery  was  de- 
signed by  Mr.  Stevens  to  be  of  8,624  indicated  horse-power, 
driving  twin-screws,  and  propelling  the  vessel  20  miles  or 
more  an  hour.  As  with  the  preceding  design,  the  progress 
of  construction  was  intermittent  and  very  slow.  Govern- 
ment advanced  funds,  and  then  refused  to  continue  the 
work ;  successive  administrations  alternately  encouraged 
and  discouraged  the  engineer  ;  and  he  finally,  cutting  loose 
entirely  from  all  official  connections,  went  on  with  the  work 
at  his  own  expense. 

The  remarkable  genius  of  the  elder  Stevens  was  well 
reflected  in  the  character  of  his  son,  and  is  in  no  way  better 
exemplified  than  by  the  accuracy  with  which,  in  this  great 
ship,  those  forms  and  proportions,  both  of  hull  and  machin- 
ery, were  adopted  which  are  now,  twenty-five  years  later, 
recognized  as  most  correct  tinder  similar  conditions.  The 
lines  of  the  vessel  are  beautifully  fair  and  fine,  and  are  what 
J.  Scott  Russell  has  called  "  wave-lines,"  or  trochoidal  lines, 
such  as  Rankine  has  shown  to  be  the  best  possible  for  easy 
propulsion.  The  proportion  of  length  to  midship  dimen- 
sions is  such  as  to  secure  the  speed  proposed  with  a  mini- 
mum resistance,  and  to  accord  closely  with  the  proportions 
arrived  at  and  adopted  by  common  consent  in  present 
transoceanic  navigation  by  the  best — not  to  say  radical — 
builders. 

The  death  of  Robert  L.  Stevens  occurred  in  April,  1856, 
when  this  larger  vessel  had  advanced  so  far  toward  comple- 
tion that  the  hull  and  machinery  were  practically  finished, 
and  it  only  remained  to  add  the  armor-plating,  and  to  de- 
cide upon  the  form  of  fighting-house  and  upon  the  number 
and  size  of  guns.  The  construction  of  the  vessel,  which  had 
proceeded  slowly  and  intermittently  during  the  years  of 
peace,  as  successive  administrations  had  considered  it  neces- 
sary to  continue  the  payment  of  appropriations,  or  had 
stopped  temporarily  in  the  absence  of  any  apparent  imme- 


280  THE   MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 

diate  necessity  for  continuance  of  the  work,  was  again  in- 
terrupted by  his  death. 

The  name  of  Robert  L.  Stevens  will  be  long  remembered 
as  that  of  one  of  the  greatest  of  American  mechanics,  the 
most  intelligent  of  naval  architects,  and  as  the  first,  and 
one  of  the  greatest,  of  those  to  whom  we  are  indebted  for 
the  commencement  of  the  mightiest  of  revolutions  in  the 
methods  and  implements  of  modern  naval  warfare.  Ameri- 
can mechanical  genius  and  engineering  skill  have  rarely 
been  too  promptly  recognized,  and  no  excuse  will  be  re- 
quired for  an  attempt  (which  it  is  hoped  may  yet  be  made) 
to  place  such  splendid  work  as  that  of  the  Messrs.  Stevens 
in  a  light  which  shall  reveal  both  its  variety  and  extent  and 
its  immense  importance. 

While  Fulton  was  introducing  the  steamboat  upon  the 
waters  of  New  York  Bay  and  the  Hudson  River,  and  while 
the  Stevenses,  father  and  sons,  were  rapidly  bringing  out  a 
fleet  of  steamers  on  the  Delaware  River  and  Bay,  other 
mechanics  were  preparing  to  contest  the  field  with  them  as 
opportunity  offered,  and  as  legislative  acts  authorizing  mo- 
nopoly expired  by  limitation  or  were  repealed. 

About  1821,  Robert  L.  Thurston,  John  Babcock,  and 
Captain  Stephen  T.  Northam,  of  Newport,  R.  I.,  com- 
menced building  steamboats,  beginning  with  a  small  craft 
intended  for  use  at  Slade's  Ferry,  on  an  arm  of  Narragan- 
sett  Bay,  near  Fall  River.  They  afterward  built  vessels  to 
ply  on  Long  Island  Sound.  One  of  their  earliest  boats  was 
the  Babcock,  built  at  Newport  in  1826.  The  engine  was 
built  by  Thurston  and  Babcock,  at  Portsmouth,  R.  I. 
They  were  assisted  in  their  work  by  Richard  Sanford,  and 
with  funds  by  Northam.  The  engine  was  of  10  or  12 
inches  diameter  of  cylinder,  and  3  or  4  feet  stroke  of  pis- 
ton. The  boiler  was  a  form  of  "  pipe-boiler,"  subsequently 
(1824)  patented  by  Babcock.  The  water  used  was  injected 
into  the  hot  boiler  as  fast  as  required  to  furnish  steam,  no 
water  being  retained  in  the  steam-generator.  This  boat 


STEAM-NAVIGATION.  281 

was  succeeded,  in  1827-'28,  by  a  larger  vessel,  the  Rush- 
light, for  which  the  engine  was  built  by  James  P.  Allaire, 
at  New  York,  while  the  boat  was  built  at  Newport.  The 
boilers  of  both  vessels  had  tubes  of  cast-iron.  The  smaller 
of  these  boats  was  of  80  tons  burden  ;  it  steamed  from 
Newport  to  Providence,  30  miles,  in  3|  hours,  and  to  New 
York,  a  distance  of  175  miles,  in  25  hours,  using  If  cord 
of  wood.1  Thurston  and  Babcock  subsequently  removed 
to  Providence,  where  the  latter  soon  died.  Thurston  con- 
tinued to  build  steam-engines  at  this  place  until  nearly  a 
half -century  later,  dying  in  1874.2  The  establishment 
founded  by  him,  after  various  changes,  became  the  Provi- 
dence Steam-Engine  Works. 

James  P.  Allaire,  of  New  York,  the  West  Point  Iron 
Foundery,  at  West  Point,  on  the  Hudson  River,  and  Dan- 
iel Copeland  and  his  son,  Charles  W.  Copeland,  on  the 
Connecticut  River,  were  also  early  builders  of  engines  for 
steam-vessels.  Daniel  Copeland  was  probably  the  first 
(1850)  to  adopt  a  slide-valve  working  with  a  lap  to  secure 
the  expansion  of  steam.  His  steamboats  were  then  usually 
stern-wheel  vessels,  and  were  built  to  ply  on  several  routes 
on  the  Connecticut  River  and  Long  Island  Sound.  The 
son,  Charles  W.  Copeland,  went  to  West  Point,  and  while 
there  designed  some  heavy  marine  steam-machinery,  and 
subsequently  designed  several  steam  vessels-of-war  for  the 
United  States  Navy.  He  was  the  earliest  designer  of  iron 
steamers  in  the  United  States,  building  the  Siamese  in  1838. 
This  steamer  was  intended  for  use  on  Lake  Pontchartrain 
and  the  canal  to  New  Orleans.  It  had  two  hulls,  was  110 
feet  long,  and  drew  but  22  inches  of  water,  loaded.  The 
two  horizontal  non-condensing  engines  turned  a  single 
paddle-wheel  placed  between  the  two  hulls,  driving  the 
boat  10  miles  an  hour.  The  hull  was  constructed  of  plates 

1  American  Journal  of  Science,  March,  IS 27;   London  Mechanics'  Mag- 
azine, June  16,  1827. 

2  "New  Universal  Cyclopaedia,"  vol.  iv.,  1878. 


282  THE   MODERN   STEAM-ENGINE. 

of  iron  10  feet  long,  formed  on  blocks  after  having  been 
heated  in  a  furnace  constructed  especially  for  the  purpose. 
The  frames  were  of  T-iron,  which  was  probably  here  used 
for  the  first  time.  The  same  engineer,  associated  with  Sam- 
uel Hart,  a  well-known  naval  constructor,  built,  in  1841,  for 
the  United  States  Navy,  the  iron  steamer  Michigan,  a  war- 
vessel  intended  for  service  on  the  great  northern  lakes. 
This  vessel  is  still  in  service,  and  in  good  order.  The  hull 
is  162£  feet  in  length,  27  feet  in  breadth,  and  12£  feet  in 
depth,  measuring  500  tons.  The  frames  were  made  of 
T-iron,  stiffened  by  reverse  bars  of  L-iron.  The  keel-plate 
was  £  inch  thick,  the  bottom  plates  f ,  and  the  sides  T\-  inch. 
The  deck-beams  were  of  iron,  and  the  vessel,  as  a  whole, 
was  a  good  specimen  of  iron-ship  building. 

During  the  period  from  1830  to  1840,  a  considerable 
number  of  the  now  standard  details  of  steam-engine  and 
steamboat  construction  were  devised  or  introduced  by  Cope- 
land.  He  was  probably  the  first  to  use  (on  the  Fulton,  1840) 
an  independent  engine  to  drive  the  blowing-fans  where  an 
artificial  draught  was  required.  He  made  a  practice  of 
fitting  his  steamers  with  a  "  bilge-injection,"  by  means  of 
which  the  vessel  could  be  freed  of  water,  through  the  con- 
denser and  air-pump,  when  leaking  seriously  ;  the  condens- 
ing-water  is,  in  such  a  case,  taken  from  inside  the  vessel, 
instead  of  from  the  sea.  This  is  probably  an  American  de- 
vice. It  was  in  use  in  the  United  States  previously  to  1835, 
as  was  the  use  of  anthracite  coal  on  steamers,  which  was  con- 
tinued by  Copeland  in  manufacturing  and  in  air-furnaces,  as 
well  as  on  steamboats.  He  also  modified  the  form  of  Stevens's 
double-poppet  valve,  giving  it  such  shape  that  it  was  com- 
paratively easy  to  grind  it  tight  and  to  keep  it  in  order. 

In  1825,  James  P.  Allaire,  of  New  York,  built  com- 
pound engines  for  the  Henry  Eckford,  and  subsequently 
constructed  similar  engines  for  several  other  steamers,  one 
of  which,  the  Sun,  made  the  trip  from  New  York  to  Albany 
in  12  hours  18  minutes.  He  used  steam  at  100  pounds 


STEAM-NAVIGATION.  283 

pressure.  Erastus  W.  Smith  afterward  introduced  this 
form  of  engine  on  the  Great  Lakes,  and  still  later  they  were 
introduced  into  British  steamers.  The  machinery  of  the 
steamer  Buckeye  State  was  constructed  at  the  Allaire 
Works,  New  York,  in  1850,  from  the  designs  of  John 
Baird  and  Erastus  W.  Smith,  the  latter  being  the  design- 
ing and  constructing  engineer.  The  steamer  was  placed 
on  the  route  between  Buffalo,  Cleveland,  and  Detroit,  in 
1851,  and  gave  most  satisfactory  results,  consuming  less 
than  two-thirds  the  fuel  required  by  a  similar  vessel  of  the 
same  line  fitted  with  the  single-cylinder  engine.  The  steam- 
cylinders  of  this  engine  were  placed  one  within  the  other, 
the  low-pressure  exterior  cylinder  being  annular.  They 
were  37  and  80  inches  in  diameter  respectively,  and  the 
stroke  was  11  feet.  Both  pistons  were  connected  to  one 
cross-head,  and  the  general  arrangement  of  the  engine  was 
similar  to  that  of  the  common  form  of  beam-engine.  The 
steam-pressure  was  from  70  to  75  pounds — about  the  maxi- 
mum pressure  adopted  a  quarter  of  a  century  later  on  trans- 
atlantic lines.  This  steamer  was  of  high  speed,  as  well  as 
economical  of  fuel. 

In  the  year  1830,  there  were  86  steamers  on  the  Hudson 
River  and  in  Long  Island  Sound. 

During  the  early  part  of  the  nineteenth  century,  the 
introduction  of  the  steamboat  upon  the  waters  of  the  great 
rivers  of  the  interior  of  the  United  States  was  one  of  the 
most  notable  details  of  its  history.  Inaugurated  by  the 
unsuccessful  experiment  of  Evans,  the  building  of  steam- 
boats on  those  waters,  once  commenced,  never  ceased  ;  and 
a  generation  after  Fitch's  burial  on  the  shore  of  the  Ohio, 
his  last  wish — that  he  might  lie  "where  the  song  of  the 
boatman  would  enliven  the  stillness  of  his  resting-place,  and 
the  music  of  the  steam-engine  soothe  his  spirit " — was  ful- 
filled day  by  day  unceasingly. 

Nicholas  J.  Roosevelt  was,  as  has  been  already  stated, 
the  first  to  take  a  steamboat  down  the  great  rivers.  His 


284  THE   MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 

boat  was  built  at  Pittsburgh  in  1811,  under  an  arrangement 
with  Fulton  and  Livingston,  from  Fulton's  plans.  It  was 
called  the  "  New  Orleans,"  was  of  about  200  tons  burden, 
and  was  propelled  by  a  stern-wheel,  assisted,  when  the 
winds  were  favorable,  by  sails  carried  on  two  masts.  The 
hull  was  138  feet  long,  30  feet  beam,  and  the  cost  of  the 
whole,  including  engines,  was  about  $40,000.  The  builder, 
with  his  family,  an  engineer,  a  pilot,  and  six  "  deck-hands," 
left  Pittsburgh  in  October,  1811,  reaching  Louisville  in  70 
hours  (steaming  about  10  miles  an  hour),  and  New  Orleans 
in  14  days,  steaming  from  Natchez. 

The  next  steamers  built  on  Western  waters  were  proba- 
bly the  Comet  and  the  Vesuvius,  both  of  which  were  in 
service  some  time.  The  Comet  was  finally  laid  aside,  and 
the  engine  used  to  drive  a  mill,  and  the  Vesuvius  was  de- 
stroyed by  the  explosion  of  her  boilers.  As  early  as  1813 
there  were  two  shops  at  Pittsburgh  building  steam-engines. 
Steamboat-building  now  became  an  important  and  lucrative 
business  in  the  West ;  and  it  is  stated  that  as  early  as  1840 
there  were  a  thousand  steamers  on  the  Mississippi  and  its 
tributaries. 

In  the  Washington,  built  at  Wheeling,  Va.,  in  1816, 
under  the  direction  of  Captain  Henry  M.  Shreve,  the  boil- 
ers, which  had  previously  been  placed  in  the  hold,  were 
carried  on  the  main-deck,  and  a  "hurricane-deck"  was 
built  over  them.  Shreve  substituted  two  horizontal  direct- 
acting  engines  for  the  single  upright  engine  used  by  Ful- 
ton, drove  them  by  high-pressure  steam  without  conden- 
sation, and  attached  them,  one  on  each  side  the  boat,  to 
cranks  placed  at  right  angles.  He  adopted  a  cam  cut-off 
expanding  the  steam  considerably,  and  the  flue-boiler  of 
Evans.  At  that  time  the  voyage  from  New  Orleans  to 
Louisville  occupied  three  weeks,  and  Shreve  was  made  the 
subject  of  many  witticisms  when  he  predicted  that  the  time 
would  ultimately  be  shortened  to  ten  days.  It  is  now  made 
in  four  days.  The  Washington  was  seized  at  New  Orleans, 


STEAM-NAVIGATION.  285 

in  1817,  by  order  of  Livingston,  who  claimed  that  his  rights 
included  the  monopoly  of  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi 
and  its  tributaries.  The  courts  decided  adversely  on  this 
claim,  and  the  release  of  the  Washington  was  the  act  which 
removed  every  obstacle  to  the  introduction  of  steam-navi- 
gation throughout  the  United  States. 

The  first  steamer  on  the  Great  Lakes  was  the  Ontario, 
built  in  1816,  at  Sackett's  Harbor.  Fifteen  years  later, 
Western  steamboats  had  taken  the  peculiar  form  which  has 
since  usually  distinguished  them. 

The  use  of  the  steam-engine  for  ocean-navigation  kept 
pace  with  its  introduction  on  inland  waters.  Begun  by 
Robert  L.  Stevens  in  the  United  States,  in  the  year  1808, 
and  by  his  contemporaries,  Bell  and  Dodd,  in  Great  Britain, 
it  steadily  and  rapidly  advanced  in  effectiveness  and  impor- 
tance, and  has  now  nearly  driven  the  sailing  fleet  from  the 
ocean.  Transatlantic  steam-navigation  began  with  the  voy- 
age of  the  American  steamer  Savannah  from  Savannah,  Ga., 
to  St.  Petersburg,  Russia,  via  Great  Britain  and  the  North- 
European  ports,  in  the  year  1819.  Fulton,  not  long  before 
his  death,  planned  a  vessel,  which  it  was  proposed  to  place 
in  service  in  the  Baltic  Sea ;  but  circumstances  compelled  a 
change  of  plan  finally,  and  the  steamer  was  placed  on  a 
line  between  Newport,  R.  L,  and  the  city  of  New  York  ; 
and  the  Savannah,  several  years  later,  made  the  voyage  then 
proposed  for  Fulton's  ship.  The  Savannah  measured  350 
tons,  and  was  constructed  by  Crocker  &  Fickett,  at  Corlears 
Hook,  N.  Y.  She  was  purchased  by  Mr.  Scarborough,  of 
Savannah,  who  placed  Captain  Moses  Rogers,  previously  in 
command  of  the  Clermont  and  of  Stevens's  boat,  the  Phoe- 
nix, in  charge.  The  ship  was  fitted  with  steam-machinery 
and  paddle-wheels,  and  sailed  for  Savannah  April  27,  1819, 
making  the  voyage  successfully  in  seven  days.  From  Sa- 
vannah, the  vessel  sailed  for  Liverpool  May  26th,  and  ar- 
rived at  that  port  June  20th.  During  this  trip  the  engines 
were  used  18  days,  and  the  remainder  of  the  voyage  was 


286  THE   MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 

made  under  sail.  From  Liverpool  the  Savannah  sailed, 
July  23d,  for  the  Baltic,  touching  at  Copenhagen,  Stock- 
holm, St.  Petersburg,  and  other  ports.  At  St.  Petersburg, 
Lord  Lyndock,  who  had  been  a  passenger,  was  landed  ;  and, 
on  taking  leave  of  the  commander  of  the  steamer,  the  distin- 
guished guest  presented  him  with  a  silver  tea-kettle,  suita- 
bly inscribed  with  a  legend  referring  to  the  importance  of 
the  event  which  afforded  him  the  opportunity.  The  Savan- 
nah left  St.  Petersburg  in  November,  passing  New  York 
December  9th,  and  reaching  Savannah  in  50  days  from  the 
date  of  departure,  stopping  four  days  at  Copenhagen,  Den- 
mark, and  an  equal  length  of  time  at  Arundel,  Norway. 
Several  severe  gales  were  met  in  the  Atlantic,  but  no  serious 
injury  was  done  to  the  ship. 

The  Savannah  was  a  full-rigged  ship.  The  wheels 
were  turned  by  an  inclined  direct-acting  low-pressure  en- 
gine, having  a  steam-cylinder  40  inches  in  diameter  and  6 
feet  stroke  of  piston.  The  paddle-wheels  were  of  wrought- 
iron,  and  were  so  attached  that  they  could  be  detached  and 
hoisted  on  board  when  it  was  desired.  After  the  return  of 
the  ship  to  the  United  States,  the  machinery  was  removed 
and  was  sold  to  the  Allaire  Works,  of  New  York.  The 
steam-cylinder  was  exhibited  by  the  purchasers  at  the 
"  World's  Fair  "  at  New  York  thirty  years  later.  The  ves- 
sel was  employed,  as  a  sailing-vessel,  on  a  line  between 
New  York  and  Savannah,  and  was  finally  lost  in  the  year 
1822.  Under  sail,  with  a  moderate  breeze,  this  ship  is  said 
to  have  sailed  about  three  knots,  and  to  have  steamed  five 
knots.  Pine-wood  was  used  as  the  fuel,  which  fact  accounts 
for  the  necessity  of  making  the  transatlantic  voyage  partly 
under  sail. 

Renwick  states  that  another  vessel,  ship-rigged  and 
fitted  with  a  steam-engine,  was  built  at  New  York  in  1819, 
to  ply  between  New  York  and  Charleston,  and  to  New  Or- 
leans and  Havana,  and  that  it  proved  perfectly  successful 
as  a  steamer,  having  good  speed,  and  proving  an  excellent 


STEAM-NAVIGATION.  287 

sea-boat.  The  enterprise  was,  however,  pecuniarily  a  fail- 
ure, and  the  vessel  was  sold  to  the  Brazilian  Government 
after  the  removal  of  the  engine.  In  1825  the  steamer  En- 
terprise made  a  voyage  to  India,  sailing  and  steaming  as 
the  weather  and  the  supply  of  fuel  permitted.  The  voyage 
occupied  47  days. 

Notwithstanding  these  successful  passages  across  the 
ocean,  and  the  complete  success  of  the  steamboat  in  rivers 
and  harbors,  it  was  asserted,  as  late  as  1838,  by  many  who 
were  regarded  as  authority,  that  the  passage  of  the  ocean 
by  steamers  was  quite  impracticable,  unless  possibly  they 
could  steam  from  the  coasts  of  Europe  to  Newfoundland  or 
to  the  Azores,  and,  replenishing  their  coal-bunkers,  resume 
their  voyages  to  the  larger  American  ports.  The  voyage 
was,  however,  actually  accomplished  by  two  steamers  in 
the  year  just  mentioned.  These  were  the  Sirius,  a  ship  of 
700  tons  and  of  250  horse-power,  and  the  Great  Western, 
of  1,340  tons  and  450  horse-power.  The  latter  was  built 
for  this  service,  and  was  a  large  ship  for  that  time,  measur- 
ing 236  feet  in  length.  Her  wheels  were  28  feet  in  diame- 
ter, and  10  feet  in  breadth  of  face.  The  Sirius  sailed  from 
Cork  April  4,  1838,  and  the  Great  Western  from  Bristol 
April  8th,  both  arriving  at  New  York  on  the  same  day — 
April  23d — the  Sirius  in  the  morning,  and  the  Great  West- 
ern in  the  afternoon. 

The  Great  Western  carried  out  of  Bristol  660  tons  of 
coal.  Seven  passengers  chose  to  take  advantage  of  the  op- 
portunity, and  made  the  voyage  in  one-half  the  time  usu- 
ally occupied  by  the  sailing-packets  of  that  day.  Through- 
out the  voyage  the  wind  and  sea  were  nearly  ahead,  and 
the  two  vessels  pursued  the  same  course,  under  very  simi- 
lar conditions.  Arriving  at  New  York,  they  were  received 
with  the  greatest  possible  enthusiasm.  They  were  saluted 
by  the  forts  and  the  men-of-war  in  the  harbor ;  the  mer- 
chant-vessels dipped  their  flags,  and  the  citizens  assembled 
on  the  Battery,  and,  coming  to  meet  them  in  boats  of  all 
14 


288  THE   MODERN   STEAM-ENGINE. 

kinds  and  sizes,  cheered  heartily.  The  newspapers  of  the 
time  were  filled  with  the  story  of  the  voyage  and  with  de- 
scriptions of  the  steamers  themselves  and  of  their  machinery. 

A  few  days  later  the  two  steamers  started  on  their  re- 
turn to  Great  Britain,  the  Sirius  reaching  Falmouth  safely 
in  18  days,  and  the  Great  Western  making  the  voyage  to 
Bristol  in  15  days,  the  latter  meeting  with  head-winds  and 
working,  during  a  part  of  the  time,  against  a  heavy  gale 
and  in  a  high  sea,  at  the  rate  of  but  two  knots  an  hour.  The 
Sirius  was  thought  too  small  for  this  long  and  boisterous 
route,  and  was  withdrawn  and  replaced  on  the  line  between 
London  and  Cork,  where  the  ship  had  previously  been  em- 
ployed. The  Great  Western  continued  several  years  in 
the  transatlantic  trade. 

Thus  these  two  voyages  inaugurated  a  transoceanic 
steam-service,  which  has  steadily  grown  in  extent  and  in 
importance.  The  use  of  steam-power  for  this  work  of  ex- 
tended ocean-transportation  has  never  since  been  interrupt- 
ed. During  the  succeeding  six  years  the  Great  Western 
made  70  passages  across  the  Atlantic,  occupying  on  the 
voyages  to  the  westward  an  average  of  15|-  days,  and  east- 
ward 13£.  The  quickest  passage  to  New  York  was  made 
in  May,  1843,  in  12  days  and  18  hours,  and  the  fastest 
steaming  was  logged  12  months  earlier,  when  the  voyage 
from  New  York  was  made  in  12  days  and  7  hours. 

Meantime,  several  other  steamers  were  built  and  placed 
in  the  transatlantic  trade.  Among  these  were  the  Royal 
William,  the  British  Queen,  the  President,  the  Liverpool, 
and  the  Great  Britain.  The  latter,  the  finest  of  the  fleet, 
was  launched  in  1843.  This  steamer  was  300  feet  long,  50 
feet  beam,  and  of  1,000  horse-power.  The  hull  was  of  iron, 
and  the  whole  ship  was  an  example  of  the  very  best  work 
of  that  time.  After  several  voyages,  this  vessel  went 
ashore  on  the  coast  of  Ireland,  and  there  remained  several 
weeks,  but  was  finally  got  off,  without  having  suffered  se- 
rious injury — a  remarkable  illustration  of  the  stanchness 


STEAM-NAVIGATION.  289 

of  an  iron  hull  when  well  built  and  of  good  material.  The 
vessel  was  repaired,  and  many  years  afterward  was  still 
afloat,  and  engaged  in  the  transportation  of  passengers  and 
merchandise  to  Australia. 

The  "  Cunard  Line  "  of  transatlantic  steamers  was  es- 
tablished in  the  year  1840.  The  first  of  the  line — the  Bri- 
tannia— sailed  from  Liverpool  for  New  York,  July  4th  of 
that  year,  and  was  followed,  on  regular  sailing-days,  by  the 
other  three  of  the  four  ships  with  which  the  company  com- 
menced business.  These  four  vessels  had  an  aggregate  ton- 
nage of  4,600  tons,  and  their  speed  was  less  than  eight 
knots.  To-day,  the  tonnage  of  a  single  vessel  of  the  fleet 
exceeds  that  of  the  four  ;  the  total  tonnage  has  risen  to 
many  times  that  above  given.  There  are  50  steamers  in 
the  line,  aggregating  nearly  50,000  horse-power.  The 
speed  of  the  steamships  of  the  present  time  is  double  that 
of  the  vessels  of  that  date,  and  passages  are  not  infrequently 
made  in  eight  days. 

The  form  of  steam-engine  in  most  general  use  at  this 
time,  on  transatlantic  steamers,  was  that  known  as  the 
"  side-lever  engine."  It  was  first  given  the  standard  form 
by  Messrs.  Maudsley  &  Co.,  of  London,  about  1835,  and 
was  built  by  them  for  steamers  supplied  to  the  British  Gov- 
ernment for  general  mail  service. 

The  steam-vessels  of  the  time  are  well  represented  in 
the  accompanying  engraving  (Fig.  91)  of  the  steamship 
Atlantic — a  vessel  which  was  shortly  afterward  (1851)  built 
as  the  pioneer  steamer  of  the  American  "Collins  Line." 
This  steamship  was  one  of  several  which  formed  the  earliest 
of  American  steamship-lines,  and  is  one  of  the  finest  exam- 
ples of  the  type  of  paddle-steamers  which  was  finally  super- 
seded by  the  later  screw-fleets.  The  "  Collins  Line  "  existed 
but  a  very  few  years,  and  its  failure  was  probably  deter- 
mined as  much  by  the  evident  and  inevitable  success  of 
screw-propulsion  as  by  the  difficulty  of  securing  ample  cap- 
ital, complete  organization,  and  efficient  general  manage- 


290 


TOE   MODERN   STEAM-ENGINE. 


ment.  This  steamer  was  built  at  New  York — the  hull 
by  William  Brown,  and  the  machinery  by  the  Novelty 
Iron-Works.  The  length  of  the  hull  was  276  feet,  its 
breadth  45  feet,  and  the  depth  of  hold  31|  feet.  The 


FIG.  91.-The  Atlantic,  1S51. 


width  over  the  paddle-boxes  was  75  feet.  The  ship  meas- 
ured 2,860  tons.  The  form  of  the  hull  Avas  then  peculiar 
in  the  fineness  of  its  lines  ;  the  bow  was  sharp,  and  the 
stern  fine  and  smooth,  and  the  general  outline  such  as  best 
adapted  the  ship  for  high  speed.  The  main  saloon  was 
about  70  feet  long,  and  the  dining-room  was  60  feet  in 
length  and  20  feet  wide.  The  state-rooms  were  arranged 
on  each  side  the  dining  "  saloon,"  and  accommodated  150 
passengers.  These  vessels  were  beautifully  fitted  up,  and 
with  them  was  inaugurated  that  wonderful  system  of  pas- 
senger-transportation which  has  since  always  been  distin- 
guished by  those  comforts  and  conveniences  which  the 
American  traveler  has  learned  to  consider  his  by  right. 

The  machinery  of  these  ships  was,  for  that  time,  re- 
markably powerful  and  efficient.     The  engines  were  of  the 


STEAM-NAVIGATION. 


291 


side-lever  type,  as  illustrated  in  Fig.  92,  which  represents 
the  engine  of  the  Pacific,  designed  by  Mr.  Charles  "VV. 
Copeland,  and  built  by  the  Allaire  Works. 

In  this  type  of  engine,  as  is  seen,  the  piston-rod  was 
attached  to  a  cross-head  working  vertically,  from  which,  at 
each  side,  links,  JS  (7,  connected  with  the  "side-lever," 
D  EF.  The  latter  vibrated  about  a  "main  centre  "  at  E, 
like  the  overhead  beam  of  the  more  common  form  of  en- 
gine ;  from  its  other  end,  a  "  connecting-rod,"  If,  led  to  the 


FIG.  92.— The  Side-Lever  Engine, 


"  cross-tail,"  W,  which  was,  in  turn,  connected  to  the  crank- 
pin,  I.  The  condenser,  JHf,  and  air-pump,  Q,  were  con- 
structed in  the  same  manner  as  those  of  other  engines,  their 
only  peculiarities  being  such  as  were  incident  to  their  loca- 
tion between  the  cylinder,  A,  and  the  crank,  IJ.  The 


292  THE    MODERN   STEAM-ENGINE. 

paddle-wheels  were  of  the  common  "  radial "  form,  covered 
in  by  paddle-boxes  so  strongly  built  that  they  were  rarely 
injured  by  the  heaviest  seas. 

These  vessels  surpassed,  for  a  time,  all  other  sea-going 
steamers  in  speed  and  comfort,  and  made  their  passages 
with  great  regularity.  The  minimum  length  of  voy- 
age of  the  Baltic  and  Pacific,  of  this  line,  was  9  days  19 
hours. 

During  the  latter  part  of  the  period  the  history  of  which 
has  been  here  given,  the  marine  steam-engine  became  sub- 
ject to  very  marked  changes  in  type  and  in  details,  and  a 
complete  revolution  was  effected  in  the  method  of  propul- 
sion. This  change  has  finally  resulted  in  the  universal 
adoption  of  a  new  propelling  instrument,  and  in  driving  the 
whole  fleet  of  paddle-steamers  from  the  ocean.  The  Great 
Britain  was  a  screw-steamer. 

The  screw-propeller,  which,  as  has  been  stated,  was 
probably  first  proposed  by  Dr.  Hooke  in  1681,  and  by  Dr. 
Bernoulli!,  of  Groningen,  at  about  the  middle  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century,  and  by  Watt  in  1784,  was,  at  the  end  of  the 
century,  tried  experimentally  in  the  United  States  by  David 
Bushnell,  an  ingenious  American,  who  was  then  conducting 
the  experiments  with  torpedoes  which  were  the  cause  of  the 
incident  which  originated  that  celebrated  song  by  Francis 
Hopkinson,  the  "  Battle  of  the  Kegs,"  using  the  screw  to 
propel  one  of  his  submarine  boats,  and  by  John  Fitch,  and 
by  Dallery  in  France. 

Joseph  Bramah,  of  Great  Britain,  May  9, 1785,  patented 
a  screw-propeller  identical  in  general  arrangement  with 
those  used  to-day.  His  sketch  exhibits  a  screw,  apparently 
of  very  fair  shape,  carried  on  an  horizontal  shaft,  which 
passes  out  of  the  vessel  through  a  stuffing-box,  the  screw 
being  wholly  submerged.  Bramah  does  not  seem  to  have 
put  his  plan  in  practice.  It  was  patented  again  in  England, 
also,  by  Littleton  in  1794,  and  by  Shorter  in  1800. 

John  Stevens,  however,  first  gave  the  screw  a  practically 


STEAM-NAVIGATION.  293 

useful  form,  and  used  it  successfully,  in  1804  and  1805,  on  the 
single  and  the  twin  screw  boats  which  he  built  at  that  time. 
This  propelling  instrument  was  also  tried  by  Trevithick, 
who  planned  a  vessel  to  be  propelled  by  a  steam-engine 
driving  a  screw,  at  about  this  time,  and  his  scheme  was  laid 
before  the  Navy  Board  in  the  year  1812.  His  plans  included 
an  iron  hull.  Francis  Pettit  Smith  tried  the  screw  also  in 
the  year  1808,  and  subsequently. 

Joseph  Ressel,  a  Bohemian,  proposed  to  use  a  screw  in 
the  propulsion  of  balloons,  about  1812,  and  in  the  year 
1826  proposed  its  use  for  marine  propulsion.  He  is  said  to 
have  built  a  screw-boat  in  the  year  1829,  at  Trieste,  which 
he  named  the  Civetta.  The  little  craft  met  with  an  acci- 
dent on  the  trial-trip,  and  nothing  more  was  done. 

The  screw  was  finally  brought  into  general  use  through 
the  exertions  of  John  Ericsson,  a  skillful  Swedish  engineer, 
who  was  residing  in  England  in  the  year  1836,  and  of  Mr. 
F.  P.  Smith,  an  English  farmer.  Ericsson  patented  a  pe- 
culiar form  of  screw-propeller,  and  designed  a  steamer  40 
feet  in  length,  of  8  feet  beam,  and  drawing  3  feet  of  water. 
The  screw  was  double,  two  shafts  being  placed  the  one 
within  the  other,  revolving  in  opposite  directions,  and  car- 
rying the  one  a  right-hand  and  the  other  a  left-hand 
screw.  These  screws  were  5£  feet  in  diameter.  On  her 
trial-trip  this  little  steamer  attained  a  speed  of  10  miles  an 
hour.  Its  power  as  a  "  tug  "  was  found  to  be  very  satisfac- 
tory ;  it  towed  a  schooner  of  140  tons  burden  at  the  rate  of 
7  miles,  and  the  large  American  packet-ship  Toronto  was 
towed  on  the  Thames  at  a  speed  of  5  miles  an  hour. 

Ericsson  endeavored  to  interest  the  British  Admiralty 
in  his  improvements,  and  succeeded  only  so  far  as  to  induce 
the  Lords  of  the  Admiralty  to  make  an  excursion  with  him 
on  the  river.  No  interest  was  awakened  in  the  new  system, 
and  nothing  was  done  by  the  naval  authorities.  A  note  to 
the  inventor  from  Captain  Beaufort — one  of  the  party — was 
received  shortly  afterward,  in  which  it  was  stated  that  the 


294  THE    MODERN    STEAM-ENGINE. 

excursionists  had  not  found  the  performance  of  the  little 
vessel  to  equal  their  hopes  and  expectations.  All  the  inter- 
ests of  the  then  existing  engine-building  establishments 
were  opposed  to  the  innovation,  and  the  proverbial  conser- 
vatism of  naval  men  and  naval  administrations  aided  in 
procuring  the  rejection  of  Ericsson's  plans. 

Fortunately  for  the  United  States,  it  happened,  at  that 
time,  that  we  had  in  Great  Britain  both  civil  and  naval  rep- 
resentatives of  greater  intelligence,  or  of  greater  boldness 
and  enterprise.  The  consul  at  Liverpool  was  Mr.  Francis 
B.  Ogden,  of  New  Jersey,  a  gentleman  who  was  somewhat 
familiar  with  the  steam-engine  and  with  steam-navigation. 
He  had  seen  Ericsson's  plans  at  an  earlier  period,  and  had 
at  once  seen  their  probable  value.  He  was  sufficiently  con- 
fident of  success  to  place  capital  at  the  disposal  of  the  in- 
ventor. The  little  screw-boat  just  described  was  built  with 
funds  of  which  he  furnished  a  part,  and  was  named,  in  his 
honor,  the  Francis  B.  Ogden. 

Captain  Robert  F.  Stockton,  an  officer  of  the  United 
States  Navy,  and  also  a  resident  of  New  Jersey,  was  in 
London  at  the  time,  and  made  an  excursion  with  Ericsson 
on  the  Ogden.  He  was  also  at  once  convinced  of  the  value 
of  the  new  method  of  application  of  steam-power  to  ship- 
propulsion,  and  gave  the  engineer  an  order  to  build  two 
iron  screw-steamboats  for  use  in  the  United  States.  Erics- 
son was  induced,  by  Messrs.  Ogden  and  Stockton,  to  take  up 
his  residence  in  the  United  States. l  The  Stockton  was  sent 
over  to  the  United  States  in  April,  1839,  under  sail,  and 
was  sold  to  the  Delaware  &  Raritan  Canal  Company.  Her 
name  was  changed,  and,  as  the  New  Jersey,  she  remained 
in  service  many  years. 

The  success  of  the  boat  built  by  Ericsson  was  so  evi- 
dent that,  although  the  naval  authorities  remained  inactive, 
a  private  company  was  formed,  in  1839,  to  work  the  patents 

1  This  distinguished  inventor  is  still  a  resident  of  New  York  (1878). 


STEAH-XAVIGATION.  295 

of  F.  P.  Smith,  and  this  "  Ship-Propeller  Company  "  built 
an  experimental  craft  called  the  Archimedes,  and  its  trial- 
trip  was  made  October  14th  of  the  same  year.  The  speed 
attained  was  9.64  miles  an  hour.  The  result  was  in  every 
respect  satisfactory,  and  the  vessel,  subsequently,  made 
many  voyages  from  port  to  port,  and  finally  circumnav- 
igated the  island  of  Great  Britain.  The  proprietors  of 
the  ship  were  not  pecuniarily  successful  in  their  venture, 
however,  and  the  sale  of  the  vessel  left  the  company  a 
heavy  loser.  The  Archimedes  was  125  feet  long,  of  21  feet 
10  inches  beam,  and  10  feet  draught,  registering  232  tons. 
The  engines  were  rated  at  80  horse-power.  Smith's  earlier 
experiments  (1837)  were  made  with  a  little  craft  of  6  tons 
burden,  driven  by  an  engine  having  a  steam-cylinder  6 
inches  in  diameter  and  15  inches  stroke  of  piston.  The 
funds  needed  were  furnished  by  a  London  banker — Mr. 
Wright. 

Bennett  "Woodcrof t  had  also  used  the  screw  experiment- 
ally as  early  as  1832,  on  the  Irwell,  near  Manchester,  Eng- 
land, in  a  boat  of  55  tons  burden.  Twin-screws  were  used, 
right  and  left  handed  respectively  ;  they  were  each  two  feet 
in  diameter,  and  were  given  an  expanding  pitch.  The  boat 
attained  a  speed  of  four  miles  an  hour. 

Experiments  made  subsequently  (1843)  with  this  form  of 
screw,  and  in  competition  with  the  "  true  "  screw  of  Smith, 
brought  out  very  distinctly  the  superiority  of  the  former, 
and  gave  some  knowledge  of  the  proper  proportions  for 
maximum  efficiency.  In  later  examples  of  the  Woodcrof  t 
screw,  the  blades  were  made  detachable  and  adjustable — a 
plan  which  is  still  a  usual  one,  and  which  has  proved  to  be, 
in  some  respects,  very  convenient. 

When  Ericsson  reached  the  United  States,  he  was  almost 
immediately  given  an  opportunity  to  build  the  Princeton — 
a  large  screw-steamer — and  at  about  the  same  time  the 
English  and  French  Governments  also  had  screw-steamers 
built  from  his  plans,  or  from  those  of  his  agent  in  England, 


296  THE   MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE. 

the  Count  de  Rosen.  In  these  latter  ships — the  Amphion 
and  the  Pomona — the  first  horizontal  direct-acting  engines 
ever  built  were  used,  and  they  were  fitted  with  double- 
acting  air-pumps,  having  canvas  valves  and  other  novel 
features.  The  great  advantages  exhibited  by  these  vessels 
over  the  paddle-steamers  of  the  time  did  for  screw-propul- 
sion what  Stephenson's  locomotive — the  Rocket — did  for 
railroad  locomotion  ten  years  earlier. 

Congress,  in  1839,  had  authorized  the  construction  of 
three  war-vessels,  and  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  ordered 
that  two  be  at  once  built  in  the  succeeding  year.  Of  these, 
one  was  the  Princeton,  the  screw-steamer  of  which  the  ma- 
chinery was  designed  by  Ericsson.  The  length  of  this  ves- 
sel was  164  feet,  beam  30|  feet,  and  depth  2l|  feet.  The 
ship  drew  from  16  i  to  18  feet  of  water,  displacing  at  those 
draughts  950  and  1,050  tons.  The  hull  had  a  broad,  flat 
floor,  with  sharp  entrance  and  fine  run,  and  the  lines  were 
considered  at  that  "time  remarkably  fine. 

The  screw  was  of  gun-bronze,  six-bladed,  and  was  14 
feet  in  diameter  and  of  35  feet  pitch  ;  i.  e.,  were  there  no 
slip,  the  screw  working  as  if  in  a  solid  nut,  the  ship  would 
have  been  driven  forward  35  feet  at  each  revolution. 

The  engines  were  two  in  number,  and  very  peculiar  in 
form  ;  the  cylinder  was,  in  fact,  a  semi-cj Under,  and  the 
place  of  the  piston-rod,  as  usually  built,  was  taken  by  a  vi- 
brating shaft,  or  "rock-shaft,"  which  carried  a  piston  of 
rectangular  form,  and  which  vibrated  like  a  door  on  its 
hinges  as  the  steam  was  alternately  let  into  and  exhausted 
from  each  side  of  it.  The  great  rock-shaft  carried,  at  the 
outer  end,  an  arm  from  which  a  connecting-rod  led  to  the 
crank,  thus  forming  a  "  direct-acting  engine." 

The  draught  in  the  boilers  was  urged  by  blowers. 
Ericsson  had  adopted  this  method  of  securing  an  artificial 
draught  ten  years  before,  in  one  of  his  earlier  vessels,  the 
Corsair.  The  Princeton  carried  a  XH-inch  wrought-iron 
gun.  This  gun  exploded  after  a  few  trials,  with  terribly 


STEAM-NAVIGATIOX.  397 

disastrous  results,  causing  the  death  of  several  distinguished 
men,  including  members  of  the  President's  cabinet. 

The  Princeton  proved  very  successful  as  a  screw-steam- 
er, attaining  a  speed  of  13  knots,  and  was  then  considered 
very  remarkably  fast.  Captain  Stockton,  who  commanded 
the  vessel,  was  most  enthusiastic  in  praise  of  her. 

Immediately  there  began  a  revolution  in  both  civil  and 
naval  ship-building,  which  progressed  with  great  rapidity. 
The  Princeton  was  the  first  of  the  screw-propelled  navy 
which  has  now  entirely  displaced  the  older  type  of  steam- 
vessel.  The  introduction  of  the  screw  now  took  place  with 
great  rapidity.  Six  steamers  were  fitted  with  Ericsson's 
screw  in  1841,  9  in  1842,  and  nearly  30  in  the  year  1843. 

In  Great  Britain,  France,  Germany,  and  other  European 
countries,  the  revolution  was  also  finally  effected,  and  was 
equally  complete.  Nearly  all  sea-going  vessels  built  toward 
the  close  of  the  period  here  considered  were  screw-steamers, 
fitted  with  -direct-acting,  quick-working  engines.  It  was, 
however,  many  years  before  the  experience  of  engineers  in 
the  designing  and  in  the  construction  and  management  of 
this  new  machinery  enabled  them  to  properly  proportion  it 
for  the  various  kinds  of  service  to  which  they  were  called 
upon  to  adapt  it.  Among  other  modifications  of  earlier  prac- 
tice introduced  by  Ericsson  was  the  surface-condenser  with 
a  circulating  pump  driven  by  a  small  independent  engine. 

The  screw  was  found  to  possess  many  advantages  over 
the  paddle-wheel  as  an  instrument  for  ship-propulsion. 
The  cost  of  machinery  was  greatly  reduced  by  its  use  ;  the 
expense  of  maintenance  in  working  order  was,  however, 
somewhat  increased.  The  latter  disadvantage  was,  never- 
theless, much  more  than  compensated  by  an  immense  in- 
crease in  the  economy  of  ship-propulsion,  which  marked 
the  substitution  of  the  new  instrument  and  its  impelling 
machinery. 

When  a  ship  is  propelled  by  paddles,  the  motion  of  the 
vessel  creates,  in  consequence  of  the  friction  of  the  fluid 


298  THE   MODERN   STEAM-ENGINE. 

against  the  sides  and  bottom,  a  current  of  water  which 
flows  in  the  direction  in  which  the  ship  is  moving,  and 
forms  a  current  following*  the  ship  for  a  time,  and  finally 
losing  all  motion  by  contact  with  the  surrounding  mass  of 
water.  All  the  power  expended  in  the  production  of  this 
great  stream  is,  in  the  case  of  the  paddle-steamer,  entirely 
lost.  In  screw-steamers,  however,  the  propelling  instru- 
ment works  in  this  following  current,  and  the  tendency  of 
its  action  is  to  bring  the  agitated  fluid  to  rest,  taking  up 
and  thus  restoring,  usefully,  a  large  part  of  that  energy 
which  would  otherwise  have  been  lost.  The  screw  is  also 
completely  covered  by  the  water,  and  acts  with  compara- 
tive efficiency  in  consequence  of  its  submersion.  The  rota- 
tion of  the  screw  is  comparatively  rapid  and  smooth,  also, 
and  this  permits  the  use  of  small,  light,  fast-running  en- 
gines. The  latter  condition  leads  to  economy  of  weight 
and  space,  and  consequently  saves  not  only  the  cost  of 
transportation  of  the  excess  of  weight  of  the  larger  kind  of 
engine,  but,  leaving  so  much  more  room  for  paying  cargo, 
the  gain  is  found  to  be  a  double  one.  Still  further,  the 
quick-running  engine  is,  other  things  being  equal,  the  most 
economical  of  steam  ;  and  thus  some  expense  is  saved  not 
only  in  the  purchase  of  fuel,  but  in  its  transportation,  and 
some  still  additional  gain  is  derived  from  the  increased 
amount  of  paying  cargo  which  the  vessel  is  thus  enabled  to 
carry.  The  change  here  described  was  thus  found  to  be 
productive  of  enormous  direct  gain.  Indirectly,  also,  some 
advantage  was  derived  from  the  greater  convenience  of  a 
deck  clear  from  machinery  and  the  great  paddle-shaft,  in 
the  better  storage  of  the  lading,  the  greater  facility  with 
which  the  masts  and  sails  could  be  fitted  and  used ;  and 
directly,  again,  in  clear  sides  unencumbered  by  great  pad- 
dle-boxes which  impeded  the  vessel  by  catching  both  sea 
and  wind. 

The  screw  was,  for  some  years,  generally  regarded  as 
simply  auxiliary  in  large  vessels,  assisting  the  sails.     TJlti- 


STEAM-NAVIGATION.  399 

mately  the  screw  became  the  essential  feature,  and  vessels 
were  lightly  sparred  and  were  given  smaller  areas  of  sail, 
the  latter  becoming  the  auxiliary  power. 

In  November  of  the  year  1843,  the  screw-steamer  Mi- 
das, Captain  Poor,  a  small  schooner-rigged  craft,  left  New 
York  for  China,  on  probably  the  first  voyage  of  such  length 
ever  undertaken  by  a  steamer  ;  and  in  the  following  Janu- 
ary the  Edith,  Captain  Lewis,  a  bark-rigged  screw-vessel, 
sailed  from  the  same  port  for  India  and  China.  The  Mas- 
sachusetts, Captain  Forbes,  a  screw-steamship  of  about  800 
tons,  sailed  for  Liverpool  September  15,  1845,  the  first  voy- 
age of  an  American  transatlantic  passenger-steamer  since 
the  Savannah's  pioneer  adventure  a  quarter  of  a  century 
before.  Two  years  later,  American  enterprise  had  placed 
both  screw  and  paddle  steamers  on  the  rivers  of  China — 
principally  through  the  exertions  of  Captain  R.  B.  Forbes 
— and  steam-navigation  was  fairly  established  throughout 
the  world.  * 

On  comparing  the  screw-steamer  of  the  present  time 
with  the  best  examples  of  steamers  propelled  by  paddle- 
wheels,  the  superiority  of  the  former  is  so  marked  that  it 
may  cause  some  surprise  that  the  revolution  just  described 
should  have  progressed  no  more  rapidly.  The  reason  of 
this  slow  progress,  however,  was  probably  that  the  intro- 
duction of  the  rapidly-revolving  screw,  in  place  of  the  slow- 
moving  paddle-wheel,  necessitated  a  complete  revolution  in 
the  design  of  their  steam-engines  ;  and  the  unavoidable 
change  from  the  heavy,  long-stroked,  low-speed  engines 
previously  in  use,  to  the  light  engines,  with  small  cylinders 
and  high  piston-speed,  called  for  by  the  new  system  of  pro- 
pulsion, was  one  that  necessarily  occurred  slowly,  and  was 
accompanied  by  its  share  of  those  engineering  blunders  and 
accidents  that  invariably  take  place  during  such  periods  of 
transition.  Engineers  had  first  to  learn  to  design  such  en- 
gines as  should  be  reliable  under  the  then  novel  conditions 
of  screw-propulsion,  and  their  experience  could  only  be 


300  THE    MODERN    STEAM-ENGINE. 

gained  through  the  occurrence  of  many  mishaps  and  costly 
failures.  The  best  proportions  of  engines  and  screws,  for  a 
given  ship,  were  determined  only  by  long  experience,  al- 
though great  assistance  was  derived  from  the  extensive  se- 
ries of  experiments  made  with  the  French  steamer  Pelican. 
It  also  became  necessary  to  train  up  a  body  of  engine-drivers 
who  should  be  capable  of  managing  these  new  engines  ;  for 
they  required  the  exercise  of  a  then  unprecedented  amount 
of  care  and  skill.  Finally,  with  the  accomplishment  of 
these  two  requisites  to  success  must  simultaneously  occur 
the  enlightenment  of  the  public,  professional  as  well  as 
non-professional,  in  regard  to  their  advantages.  Thus  it 
happens  that  it  is  only  after  a  considerable  time  that  the 
screw  attained  its  proper  place  as  an  instrument  of  propul- 
sion, and  finally  drove  the  paddle-wheel  quite  out  of  use, 
except  in  shoal  wrater. 

Now  our  large  screw-steamers  are  of  higher  speed  than 
any  paddle-steamers  on  the  ocean,  and  develop  their  power 
at  far  less  cost.  This  increased  economy  is  due  not  only  to 
the  use  of  a  more  efficient  propelling  instrument,  and  to 
changes  already  described,  but  also,  in  a  great  degree,  to 
the  economy  which  has  followed  as  a  consequence  of  other 
changes  in  the  steam-engine  driving  it.  The  earliest  days 
of  screw-propulsion  witnessed  the  use  of  steam  of  from  5 
to  15  pounds  pressure,  in  a  geared  engine  using  jet-conden- 
sation, and  giving  a  horse-power  at  an  expense  of  perhaps 
7  to  10,  or  even  more,  pounds  of  coal  per  hour.  A  little 
later  came  direct-acting  engines  with  jet-condensation  and 
steam  at  20  pounds  pressure,  costing  about  5  or  6  pounds 
per  horse-power  per  hour.  The  steam-pressure  rose  a  little 
higher  with  the  use  of  greater  expansion,  and  the  economy 
of  fuel  was  further  improved.  The  introduction  of  the  sur- 
face-condenser, which  began  to  be  generally  adopted  some 
ten  years  ago,  brought  down  the  cost  of  power  to  from  3 
to  4  pounds  in  the  better  class  of  engines.  At  about  the 
same  time,  this  change  to  surface-condensation  helping 


STEAM-NAVIGATION.  301 

greatly  to  overcome  those  troubles  arising  from  boiler-in- 
crustation which  had  prevented  the  rise  of  steam-pressure 
above  about  25  pounds  per  square  inch,  and  as,  at  the  same 
time,  it  was  learned  by  engineers  that  the  deposit  of  lime- 
scale  in  the  marine  boiler  was  determined  by  temperature 
rather  than  by  the  degree  of  concentration,  and  that  all  the 
lime  entering  the  boiler  was  deposited  at  the  pressure  just 
mentioned,  a  sudden  advance  took  place.  Careful  design, 
good  workmanship,  and  skillful  management,  made  the  sur- 
face-condenser an  efficient  apparatus  ;  and,  the  dangers  of 
incrustation  being  thus  lessened,  the  movement  toward 
higher  pressures  recommenced,  and  progressed  so  rapidly 
that  now  75  pounds  per  square  inch  is  very  usual,  and 
more  than  125  pounds  has  since  been  attained. 

The  close  of  this  period  was  marked  by  the  construc- 
tion of  the  most  successful  types  of  paddle-steamers,  the 
complete  success  of  transoceanic  steam-transportation,  the 
introduction  'of  the  screw-propeller  and  the  peculiar  engine 
appropriate  to  it,  and,  finally,  a  general  improvement,  which 
had  finally  become  marked  both  in  direction  and  in  rapidity 
of  movement,  leading  toward  the  use  of  higher  steam- 
pressure,  greater  expansion,  lighter  and  more  rapidly-work- 
ing machinery,  and  decidedly  better  design  and  construc- 
tion, and  the  use  of  better  material.  The  result  of  these 
changes  was  seen  in  economy  of  first  cost  and  maintenance, 
and  the  ability  to  attain  greater  speed,  and  to  assure  greater 
safety  to  passengers  and  less  risk  to  cargo. 

The  introduction  of  the  changes  just  noted  finally  led 
to  the  last  great  change  in  the  form  of  the  marine  steam- 
engine,  and  a  revolution  was  inaugurated,  which,  however, 
only  became  complete  in  the  succeeding  period.  The  non- 
success  of  Hornblower  and  of  Wolff,  and  others  who  had 
attempted  to  introduce  the  "  compound  "  or  double-cylinder 
engine  on  land,  had  not  convinced  all  engineers  that  it 
might  not  yet  be  made  a  successful  rival  of  the  then  stand- 
ard type  ;  and  the  three  or  four  steamers  which  were  built 


302 


THE    MODERN   STEAM-ENGINE. 


for  the  Hudson  River  at  the  end  of  the  first  quarter  of  the 
nineteenth  century  are  said  to  have  been  very  successful 
vessels.  Carrying  75  to  100  pounds  of  steam  in  their  boil- 
ers, the  Swiftsure  and  her  contemporaries  were  by  that  cir- 
cumstance well  fitted  to  make  that  form  of  engine  economi- 
cally a  success.  This  form  of  engine  was  built  occasionally 
during  the  succeeding  quarter  of  a  century,  but  only  became 
a  recognized  standard  type  after  the  close  of  the  epoch  to 
the  history  of  which  this  chapter  is  devoted.  That  latest 
and  greatest  advance  in  the  direction  of  increased  efficiency 
in  the  marine  steam-engine  was,  however,  commenced  very 
soon  after  Watt's  death,  and  its  completion  was  the  work 
of  nearly  a  half -century. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  STEAM-ENGINE  OF  TO-DAY. 

.  .  .  "AND,  last  of  all,  with  inimitable  power,  and  'with  whirlwind 
sound,'  comes  the  potent  agency  of  steam.  In  comparison  with  the  past, 
what  centuries  of  improvement  has  this  single  agent  comprised  in  the  short 
compass  of  fifty  years !  Everywhere  practicable,  everywhere  efficient,  it  has 
an  arm  a  thousand  times  stronger  than  that  of  Hercules,  and  to  which  hu- 
man ingenuity  is  capable  of  fitting  a  thousand  times  as  many  hands  as 
belonged  to  Briareus.  Steam  is  found  in  triumphant  operation  on  the  seas ; 
and,  under  the  influence  of  its  strong  propulsion,  the  gallant  ship — 

'  Against  the  wind,  against  the  tide, 
Still  steadies  with  an  upright  keel.1 

It  is  on  the  rivers,  and  the  boatman  may  repose  on  his  oars ;  it  is  on  high- 
ways, and  exerts  itself  along  the  courses  of  land-conveyance ;  it  is  at  the 
bottom  of  mines,  a  thousand  feet  below  the  earth's  surface ;  it  is  in  the 
mills,  and  in  the  workshops  of  the  trades.  It  rows,  it  pumps,  it  excavates, 
it  carries,  it  draws,  it  lifts,  it  hammers,  it  spins,  it  weaves,  it  prints.  It 
seems  to  say  to  men,  at  least  to  the  class  of  artisans :  '  Leave  off  your  manual 
labor  ;  give  over  your  bodily  toil ;  bestow  but  your  skill  and  reason  to  the 
directing  of  my  power,  and  I  will  bear  the  toil,  with  no  muscle  to  grow  weary, 
no  nerve  to  relax,  no  breast  to  feel  f aintness ! '  What  further  improvement 
may  still  be  made  in  the  use  of  this  astonishing  power  it  is  impossible  to 
know,  and  it  were  vain  to  conjecture.  What  we  do  know  is,  that  it  has  most 
essentially  altered  the  face  of  affairs,  and  that  no  visible  limit  yet  appears 
beyond  which  its  progress  is  seen  to  be  impossible." — DANIEL  WEBSTER. 

THE  PERIOD  OF  REFINEMENT — 1850  TO  DATE. 

BY  the  middle  of  the  present  century,  as  we  have  now 
seen,  the  steam-engine  had  been  applied,  and  successfully, 
to  every  great  purpose  for  which  it  was  fitted.  Its  first 
application  was  to  the  elevation  of  water  ;  it  next  was  ap- 
plied to  the  driving  of  mills  and  machinery  ;  and  it  finally 


304  THE   STEAM-ENGINE   OF  TO-DAY. 

became  the  great  propelling  power  in  transportation  "by 
land  and  by  sea. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  period  to  which  we  are  now 
come,  these  applications  of  steam-power  had  become  famil- 
iar both  to  the  engineer  and  to  the  public.  The  forms  of 
engine  adapted  to  each  purpose  had  been  determined,  and 
had  become  usually  standard.  Every  type  of  the  modern 
steam-engine  had  assumed,  more  or  less  closely,  the  form 
and  proportions  which  are  now  familiar  ;  and  the  most 
intelligent  designers  and  builders  had  been  taught — by  ex- 
perience rather  than  by  theory,  for  the  theory  of  the  steam- 
engine  had  then  been  but  little  investigated,  and  the  prin- 
ciples and  laws  of  thermodynamics  had  not  been  traced  in 
their  application  to  this  engine — the  principles  of  construc- 
tion essential  to  successful  practice,  and  were  gradually 
learning  the  relative  standing  of  the  many  forms  of  steam- 
engine,  from  among  which  have  been  preserved  a  few  spe- 
cially fitted  for  certain  specific  methods  of  utilization  of 
power. 

During  the  years  succeeding  the  date  1850,  therefore, 
the  growth  of  the  steam-engine  had  been,  not  a  change  of 
standard  type,  or  the  addition  of  new  parts,  but  a  gradual 
improvement  in  forms,  proportions,  and  arrangements  of 
details  ;  and  this  period  has  been  marked  by  the  dying  out 
of  the  forms  of  engine  least  fitted  to  succeed  in  competition 
with  others,  and  the  retention  of  the  latter  has  been  an  ex- 
ample of  "  the  survival  of  the  fittest."  This  has  therefore 
been  a  Period  of  Refinement. 

During  this  period  invention  has  been  confined  to  de- 
tails ;  it  has  produced  new  forms  of  parts,  new  arrange- 
ments of  details  ;  it  has  devised  an  immense  variety  of 
valves,  valve-motions,  regulating  apparatus,  and  a  still 
greater  variety  of  steam-boilers  and  of  attachments,  essen- 
tial and  non-essential,  to  both  engines  and  boilers.  The 
great  majority  of  these  peculiar  devices  have  been  of  no 
value,  and  very  many  of  the  best  of  them  have  been  found 


THE   STEAM-ENGINE   OF   TO-DAY.  305 

to  have  about  equal  value.  All  the  well-known  and  success- 
ful forms  of  engine,  when  equally  well  designed  and  con- 
structed and  equally  well  managed,  are  of  very  nearly  equal 
efficiency  ;  all  of  the  best-known  types  of  steam-boiler, 
where  given  equal  proportions  of  grate  to  heating-surface 
and  equally  well  designed,  with  a  view  to  securing  a  good 
draught  and  a  good  circulation  of  water,  have  been  found 
to  give  very  nearly  equally  good  results  ;  and  it  has  be- 
come evident  that  a  good  knowledge  of  principles  and  of 
practice,  on  the  part  of  the  designer,  the  constructor,  and 
the  manager  of  the  boiler,  is  essential  in  the  endeavor  to 
achieve  economical  success  ;  that  good  engineering  is  de- 
manded, rather  than  great  ingenuity.  The  inventor  has 
been  superseded  here  by  the  engineer. 

The  knowledge  acquired  in  the  time  of  Watt,  of  the 
essential  principles  of  steam-engine  construction,  has  since 
become  generally  familiar  to  the  better  class  of  engineers. 
It  has  led  to  the  selection  of  simple,  strong,  and  durable 
forms  of  engine  and  boiler,  to  the  introduction  of  various 
kinds  of  valves  and  of  valve-gearing,  capable  of  adjustment 
to  any  desired  range  of  expansive  working,  and  to  the  attach- 
ment of  efficient  forms  of  governor  to  regulate  the  speed  of 
the  engine,  by  determining  automatically  the  point  of  cut- 
off which  will,  at  any  instant,  best  adjust  the  energy  exerted 
by  the  expanding  steam  to  the  demand  made  by  the  work 
to  be  done. 

The  value  of  high  pressures  and  considerable  expansion 
was  recognized  as  long  ago  as  in  the  early  part  of  the  pres- 
ent century,  and  Watt,  by  combining  skillfully  the  several 
principal  parts  of  the  steam-engine,  gave  it  very  nearly 
the  shape  which  it  has  to-day.  The  compound  engine, 
even,  as  has  been  seen,  was  invented  by  contemporaries  of 
Watt,  and  the  only  important  modifications  since  his  time 
have  occurred  in  details.  The  introduction  of  the  "  drop 
cut-off,"  the  attachment  of  the  governor  to  the  expansion- 
apparatus  in  such  a  manner  as  to  determine  the  degree  of 


306  THE  STEAM-ENGINE  OF  TO-DAY. 

expansion,  the  improvement  of  proportions,  the  introduction 
of  higher  steam  and  greater  expansion,  the  improvement  of 
the  marine  engine  by  the  adoption  of  surface-condensation, 
in  addition  to  these  other  changes,  and  the  introduction  of 
the  double-cylinder  engine,  after  the  elevation  of  steam- 
pressure  and  increase  of  expansion  had  gone  so  far  as  to 
justify  its  use,  are  the  changes,  therefore,  which  have  taken 
place  during  this  last  quarter-century.  It  began  then  to  be 
generally  understood  that  expansion  of  steam  produced 
economy,  and  mechanics  and  inventors  vied  with  each  other 
in  the  effort  to  obtain  a  form  of  valve-gear  which  should 
secure  the  immense  saving  which  an  abstract  consideration 
of  the  expansion  of  gases  according  to  Marriotte's  law 
would  seem  to  promise.  The  counteracting  phenomena  of 
internal  condensation  and  reevaporation,  of  the  losses  of 
heat  externally  and  internally,  and  of  the  effect  of  defective 
vacuum,  defective  distribution  of  steam,  and  of  back-press- 
ure, were  either  unobserved  or  were  entirely  overlooked. 

It  was  many  years,  therefore,  before  engine-builders  be- 
came convinced  that  no  improvement  upon  existing  forms 
of  expansion-gear  could  secure  even  an  approximation  to 
theoretical  efficiency. 

The  fact  thus  learned,  that  the  benefit  of  expansive 
working  has  a  limit  which  is  very  soon  reached  in  ordinary 
practice,  was  not  then,  and  has  only  recently  become,  gen- 
erally known  among  our  steam-engine  builders,  and  for 
several  years,  during  the  period  upon  which  we  now  enter, 
there  continued  the  keenest  competition  between  makers  of 
rival  forms  of  expansion-gear,  and  inventors  were  continu- 
ally endeavoring  to  produce  something  which  should  far 
excel  any  previously-existing  device. 

In  Europe,  as  in  the  United  States,  efforts  to  "improve" 
standard  designs  have  usually  resulted  in  injuring  their 
efficiency,  and  in  simply  adding  to  the  first  cost  and  run- 
ning expense  of  the  engines,  without  securing  a  marked 
increase  in  economy  in  the  consumption  of  steam. 


STATIONARY  ENGINES.  307 

SECTION  I. — STATIONARY  ENGINES. 

"  STATIONARY  ENGINES  "  had  been  applied  to  the  opera- 
tion of  mill-machinery,  as  has  been  seen,  by  Watt  and  by 
Murdoch,  his  assistant  and  pupil ;  and  Watt's  competitors, 
in  'Great  Britain  and  abroad,  had  made  considerable  progress 
before  the  death  of  the  great  engineei-,  in  its  adaptation  to 
its  work.  In  the  United  States,  Oliver  Evans  had  intro- 
duced the  non-condensing  high-pressure  stationary  engine, 
which  was  the  progenitor  of  the  standard  engine  of  that  type 
which  is  now  used  far  more  generally  than  any  other  form. 
These  engines  were  at  first  rude  in  design,  badly  propor- 
tioned, rough  and  inaccurate  as  to  workmanship,  and  uneco- 
nomical in  their  consumption  of  fuel.  Gradually,  however, 
when  made  by  reputable  builders,  they  assumed  neat  and 
strong  shapes,  good  proportions,  and  were  well  made  and 
of  excellent  materials,  doing  their  work  with  comparatively 
little  waste  of  heat  or  of  fuel. 

One  of  the  neatest  and  best  modern  designs  of  station- 
ary engine  for  small  powers  is  seen  in  Fig.  93,  which  rep- 
resents a  "vertical  direct-acting  engine,"  with  base-plate — 
a  form  which  is  a  favorite  with  many  engineers. 

The  engine  shown  in  the  engraving  consists  of  two  prin- 
cipal parts,  the  cylinder  and  the  frame,  which  is  a  tapering 
column  having  openings  in  the  sides,  to  allow  free  access 
to  all  the  working  parts  within.  The  slides  and  pillow- 
blocks  are  cast  with  the  column,  so  that  they  cannot  be- 
come loose  or  out  of  line  ;  the  rubbing  surfaces  are  large 
and  easily  lubricated.  Owing  to  the  vertical  position,  there 
is  no  tendency  to  side  wear  of  cylinder  or  piston.  The 
packing-rings  are  self-adjusting,  and  work  free  but  tight. 
The  crank  is  counterbalanced  ;  the  crank-pin,  cross-head  pin, 
piston-rod,  valve-stem,  etc.,  are  made  of  steel ;  all  the  bear- 
ing surfaces  are  made  extra  large,  and  are  accurately  fitted  ; 
and  the  best  quality  of  Babbitt-metal  only  used  for  the 
journal-bearings. 


308 


THE   STEAM-EXGIXE   OF  TO-DAY. 


The  smaller  sizes  of  these  engines,  from  2  to  10  horse- 
power, have  both  pillow-blocks  cast  in  the  frame,  giving  a 


Fis.  93.— Vertical  Stationary  Steam-Engine. 

bearing  each  side  of  the  double  cranks.     They  aie  built  by 
some  constructors  in  quantities,  and  parts  duplicated  by 


STATIONARY  ENGINES. 


special  machinery  (as  in  fire-arms  and  sewing-machines), 
which  secures  great  accuracy  and  uniformity  of  workman- 
ship, and  allows  of  any  part  being  quickly  and  cheaply 
replaced,  when  worn  or  broken  by  accident.  The  next  fig- 
ure is  a  vertical  section  through  the  same  engine. 


Fio.  94.— Vertical  Stationary  Steam-Engine.    Section. 

Engines  fitted  with  the  ordinary  rigid  bearings  require 
to  be  erected  on  a  firm  foundation,  and  to  be  kept  in  perfect 
line.  If,  by  the  settling  of  the  foundation,  or  from  any 
other  cause,  they  get  out  of  line,  heating,  cutting,  and 
thumping  result.  To  obviate  this,  modern  engines  are  often 
fitted  with  self-adjusting  bearings  throughout ;  this  gives 
the  engine  great  flexibility  and  freedom  from  friction.  The 
accompanying  cuts  show  clearly  how  this  is  accomplished. 


310  THE   STEAM-ENGINE   OF  TO-DAY. 

The  pillow-block  has  a  spherical  shell  turned  and  fitted  into 
the  spherically-bored  pillow-block,  thus  allowing  a  slight 
angular  motion  in  any  direction.  The  connecting-rod  is 
forged  in  a  single  piece,  without  straps,  gibs,  or  key,  and  is 
mortised  through  at  each  end  for  the  reception  of  the  brass 
boxes,  which  are  curved  on  their  backs,  and  fit  the  cheek- 
pieces,  between  which  they  can  turn  to  adjust  themselves 
to  the  pins,  in  the  plane  of  the  axis  of  the  rod.  The  ad- 
justment for  wear  is  made  by  wedge-blocks  and  set  screws, 
as  shown,  and  they  are  so  constructed  that  the  parts  cannot 
get  loose  and  cause  a  break-down.  The  cross-head  has 
adjustable  gibs  on  each  side,  turned  to  fit  the  slides,  which 
are  cast  solidly  in  the  frame,  and  bored  out  exactly  in  the 
line  with  the  cylinder.  This  permits  it  freely  to  turn  on  its 
axis,  and,  in  connection  with  the  adjustable  boxes  in  the 
connecting-rod,  allows  a  perfect  self -adjustment  to  the  line  of 
the  crank-pin.  The  out-board  bearing  may  be  moved  an  inch 
or  more  out  of  position  in  any  direction,  without  detriment  to 
the  running  of  the  engine,  all  bearings  accommodating  them- 
selves perfectly  to  whatever  position  the  shaft  may  assume. 

The  ports  and  valve-passages  are  proportioned  as  in 
locomotive  practice.  The  valve-seat  is  adapted  to  the  ordi- 
nary plain  slide  or  D-valve,  should  it  be  preferred,  but  the 
balanced  piston  slide-valve  works  with  equal  ease  whether 
the  steam-pressure  is  10  or  100  pounds,  and  at  the  same  time 
gives  double  steam  and  exhaust  openings,  which  greatly  fa- 
cilitates the  entrance  of  the  steam  to,  and  its  escape  from,  the 
cylinder,  thus  securing  a  nearer  approach  to  boiler-pressure 
and  a  less  back-pressure,  saving  the  power  required  to  work 
an  ordinary  valve,  and  reducing  the  wear  of  valve-gear. 

This  is  a  type  of  engine  frequently  seen  in  the  United 
States,  but  more  rarely  in  Europe.  It  is  an  excellent  form 
of  engine.  The  vertical  direct-acting  engine  is  sometimes, 
though  rarely,  built  of  very  considerable  size,  and  these 
large  engines  are  more  frequently  seen  in  rolling-mills  than 
elsewhere. 


STATIONARY  ENGINES.  311 

Where  much  power  is  required,  the  stationary  engine  is 
usually  an  horizontal  direct-acting  engine,  having  a  more 
or  less  effective  cut-off  valve-gear,  according  to  the  size  of 
engine  and  the  cost  of  fuel.  A  good  example  of  the  sim- 
pler form  of  this  kind  of  engine  is  the  small  horizontal 
slide-valve  engine,  with  independent  cut-off  valve  riding  on 
the  back  of  the  main  valve — a  combination  generally  known 
among  engineers  as  the  Meyer  system  of  valve-gear.  This 
form  of  steam-engine  is  a  very  effective  machine,  and  does 
excellent  work  when  properly  proportioned  to  yield  the  re- 
quired amount  of  power.  It  is  well  adapted  to  an  expan- 
sion of  from  four  to  five  times.  Its  disadvantages  are  the 
difficulty  which  it  presents  in  the  attachment  of  the  regu- 
lator, to  determine  the  point  of  cut-off  by  the  heavy  work 
which  it  throws  upon  the  governor  when  attached,  and  the 
rather  inflexible  character  of  the  device  as  an  expansive 
valve-gear.  The  best  examples  of  this  class  of  engine  have 
neat  heavy  bed-plates,  well-designed  cylinders  and  details, 
smooth-working  valve-gear,  the  expansion-valve  adjusted 
by  a  right  and  left  hand  screw,  and  regulation  secured  by 
the  attachment  of  the  governor  to  the  throttle-valve. 

The  engine  shown  in  the  accompanying  illustration 
(Fig.  95)  is  an  example  of  an  excellent  British  stationary 
steam-engine.  It  is  simple,  strong,  and  efficient.  The 
frame,  front  cylinder -head,  cross-head  guides,  and  crank- 
shaft "  plumber-block,"  are  cast  in  one  piece,  as  has  so 
generally  been  done  in  the  United  States  for  a  long  time 
by  some  of  our  manufacturers.  The  cylinder  is  secured 
against  the  end  of  the  bed-plate,  as  was  first  done  by  Cor- 
liss. The  crank-pin  is  set  in  a  counterbalanced  disk.  The 
valve-gear  is  simple,  and  the  governor  effective,  and  pro- 
vided with  a  safety-device  to  prevent  injury  by  the  break- 
ing of  the  governor-belt.  An  engine  of  this  kind  of  10 
inches  diameter  of  cylinder,  20  inches  stroke  of  piston,  is 
rated  by  the  builders  at  about  25  horse-power  ;  a  similar 
engine  30  inches  in  diameter  of  cylinder  would  yield  from 
15 


312  THE   STEAM-ENGINE   OF   TO-DAY 


STATIONARY   ENGINES. 


313 


225  to  250  horse-power.    In  this  example,  all  parts  are  made 
to  exact  size  by  gauges  standardized  to  Whitworth's  sizes. 

In  American  engines  (as  is  seen  in  Fig.  96),  usually,  two 
supports  are  placed — the  one  under  the  latter  bearing,  and 


the  other  under  the  cylinder — to  take  the  weight  of  the  en- 
gine ;  and  through  them  it  is  secured  to  the  foundation. 
As  in  the  vertical  engine  already  described,  a  valve  is 
sometimes  used,,  consisting  of  two  pistons  connected  by  a 


314  THE   STEAM-ENGIXE   OF  TO-DAY. 

rod,  and  worked  by  an  ordinary  eccentric.  By  a  simple 
arrangement  these  pistons  have  always  the  same  pressure  in- 
side as  out,  which  prevents  any  leakage  or  blowing  through  ; 
and  they  are  said  always  to  work  equally  as  well  and  free 
from  friction  under  150  pounds  pressure  as  under  10  pounds 
per  square  inch,  and  to  require  no  adjustment.  It  is  more 
usual,  however,  to  adopt  the  three-ported  valve  used  on 
locomotives,  with  (frequently)  a  cut-off  valve  on  the  back 
of  this  main  valve,  which  cut-off  valve  is  adjusted  either 
by  hand  or  by  the  governor. 

Engines  of  the  class  just  described  are  especially  well 
fitted,  by  their  simplicity,  compactness,  and  solidity,  to 
work  at  the  high  piston-speeds  which  are  gradually  becom- 
ing generally  adopted  in  the  effort  to  attain  increased 
economy  of  fuel  by  the  reduction  of  the  immense  losses  of 
heat  which  occur  in  the  expansion  of  steam  in  the  metallic 
cylinders  through  which  we  are  now  compelled  to  work  it. 

One  of  the  best  known  of  recent  engines  is  the  Allen 
engine,  a  steam-engine  having  the  same  general  arrange- 
ment of  parts  seen  in  the  above  illustration,  but  fitted  with 
a  peculiar  valve-gear,  and  having  proportions  of  parts  which 
are  especially  calculated  to  secure  smoothness  of  motion 
and  uniformity  of  pressure  on  crank-pin  and  journals,  at 
speeds  so  high  that  the  inertia  of  the  reciprocating  parts 
becomes  a  seriously-important  element  in  the  calculation  of 
the  distribution  of  stresses  and  their  effect  on  the  dynamics 
of  the  machine. 

In  the  Allen  engine,1  the  cylinder  and  frame  are  con- 
nected as  in  the  engine  seen  above,  and  the  crank-disk, 
shaft-bearings,  and  other  principal  details,  are  not  essentially 
different.  The  valve-gear"  differs  in  having  four  valves, 
one  at  each  end  on  the  steam  as  well  as  on  the  exhaust  side, 
all  of  which  are  balanced  and  work  with  very  little  resist- 
ance. These  valves  are  not  detachable,  but  are  driven  by 

1  The  invention  of  Messrs.  Charles  T.  Porter  and  John  F.  Allen. 
8  Invented  by  Mr.  John  F.  Allen. 


STATIONARY  ENGINES.  315 

a  link  attached  to  and  moved  by  an  eccentric  on  the  main 
shaft,  the  position  of  the  valve-rod  attachment  to  which 
link  is  determined  by  the  governor,  and  the  degree  of  ex- 
pansion is  thus  adjusted  to  the  work  of  the  engine.  The 
engine  has  usually  a  short  stroke,  not  exceeding  twice  the 
diameter  of  cylinder,  and  is  driven  at  very  high  speed,  gen- 
erally averaging  from  600  to  800  feet  per  minute.1  This 
high  piston-speed  and  short  stroke  give  very  great  velocity 
of  rotation.  The  effect  is,  therefore,  to  produce  an  excep- 
tional smoothness  of  motion,  while  permitting  the  use  of 
small  fly-wheels.  Its  short  stroke  enables  entire  solidity  to 
be  attained  in  a  bed  of  rigid  form,  making  it  a  very  com- 
pletely self-contained  engine,  adapted  to  the  heaviest  work, 
and  requiring  only  a  small  foundation. 

The  journals  of  the  shaft,  and  all  cylindrical  wearing 
surfaces,  are  finished  by  grinding  in  a  manner  that  leaves 
them  perfectly  round.  The  crank-pin  and  cross-head  pin 
are  hardened  before  being  ground.  The  joints  of  the  valve- 
gear  consist  of  pins  turning  in  solid  ferrules  in  the  rod-ends, 
both  hardened  and  ground.  After  years  of  constant  use 
thus,  no  wear  occasioning  lost  time  in  the  valve-movements 
has  been  detected. 

High  speed  and  short  strokes  are  essential  elements  of 
economy.  It  is  now  well  understood  that  all  the  surfaces 
with  which  the  steam  comes  in  contact  condense  it. 

Obviously,  one  way  to  diminish  this  loss  is  to  reduce  the 
extent  of  surface  to  which  the  steam  is  exposed.  In  engines 
of  high  speed  and  short  stroke,  the  surfaces  with  which  the 
steam  comes  in  contact,  while  doing  a  given  amount  of 
work,  present  less  area  than  in  ordinary  engines  running  at 
low  speed.  Where  great  steadiness  of  motion  is  desired, 
the  expense  of  coupled  engines  is  often  incurred.  Quick- 
running  engines  do  not  require  to  be  coupled  ;  a  single 
engine  may  give  greater  uniformity  of  motion  than  is  usu- 

1  Or  not  far  from  600  times  the  cube  root  of  the  length  of  stroke,  meas- 
ured in  feet. 


316  THE   STEAM-ENGINE   OF  TO-DAY. 

ally  obtained  with  coupled  engines  at  ordinary  speeds.  The 
ports  and  valve-movements,  the  weight  of  the  reciprocating 
parts,  and  the  size  and  weight  of  the  fly-wheels,  should  be 
calculated  expressly  for  the  speeds  chosen. 

The  economy  of  the  engine  here  described  is  unexcelled 
by  the  best  of  the  more  familiar  "  drop  cut-off  "  engines. 

An  engine  reported  upon  by  a  committee  of  the  Ameri- 
can Institute,  of  which  Dr.  Barnard  was  chairman,  was 
non-condensing,  16  inches  in  diameter  of  cylinder,  30  inches 
stroke,  making  125  revolutions  per  minute,  and  developed 
over  125  horse-power  with  75  pounds  of  steam  in  the  boiler, 
using  25f  pounds  of  steam  per  indicated  horse-power,  and 
2.87  pounds  of  coal — an  extraordinarily  good  performance 
for  an  engine  of  such  small  power. 

The  governor  used  on  this  engine  is  known  as  the  Por- 
ter governor.  It  is  given  great  power  and  delicacy  by 
weighting  it  down,  and  thus  obtaining  a  high  velocity  of 
rotation,  and  by  suspending  the  balls  from  forked  arms, 
which  are  given  each  two  bearing-pins  separated  laterally 
so  far  as  to  permit  considerable  force  to  be  exerted  in 
changing  speeds  without  cramping  those  bearings  sufficient- 
ly to  seriously  impair  the  sensitiveness  of  the  governor. 
This  engine  as  a  whole  may  be  regarded  as  a  good  repre- 
sentative of  the  high-speed  engine  of  to-day. 

Since  this  change  in  the  direction  of  high  speeds  has 
already  gone  so  far  that  the  "  drop  cut-off "  is  sometimes 
inapplicable,  in  consequence  of  the  fact  that  the  piston 
would,  were  such  a  valve-gear  adopted,  reach  the  end  of 
its  stroke  before  the  detached  valve  could  reach  its  seat ; 
and  since  this  progress  is  only  limited  by  our  attainments 
in  mechanical  skill  and  accuracy,  it  seems  probable  that 
the  "  positive-motion  expansion-gear "  type  of  engine  will 
ultimately  supersede  the  now  standard  "drop  cut-off  en- 
gine." 

The  best  known  and  most  generally  used  class  of  sta- 
tionary engines  at  the  present  time  is,  however,  that  which 


STATIONARY  ENGINES.  317 

has  the  so-called  "  drop  cut-off,"  or  "  detachable  valve-gear." 
The  oldest  well-known  form  of  valve-motion  of  this  de- 
scription now  in  use  is  that  known  as  the  Sickels  cut-off, 
patented  by  Frederick  E.  Sickels,  an  American  mechanic, 
about  the  year  1841,  and  also  built  by  Hogg,  of  New  York, 
who  placed  it  upon  the  engine  of  the  steamer  South  Amer- 
ica. The  invention  is  claimed  for  both  Hogg  and  Sickels. 
It  was  introduced  by  the  inventor  in  a  form  which  espe- 
cially adapted  it  to  use  with  the  beam-engine  used  on  the 
Eastern  waters  of  the  United  States,  and  was  adapted  to 
stationary  engines  by  Messrs.  Thurston,  Greene  &  Co.,  of 
Providence,  R.  I.,  who  made  use  of  it  for  some  years  before 
any  other  form  of  "  drop  cut-off "  came  into  general  use. 
The  Sickels  cut-off  consisted  of  a  set  of  steam-valves,  usu- 
ally independent  of  the  exhaust-valves,  and  each  raised  by 
a  catch,  which  could  be  thrown  out,  at  the  proper  moment, 
by  'a  wedge  with  which  it  came  in  contact  as  it  rose  with 
the  opening  valve.  This  wedge,  or  other  equivalent  device, 
was  so  adjusted  that  the  valve  should  be  detached  and  fall  to 
its  seat  when  the  piston  reached  that  point  in  its  movement, 
after  taking  steam,  at  which  expansion  was  to  commence. 
From  this  point,  no  steam  entering  the  cylinder,  the  piston 
was  impelled  by  the  expanding  vapor.  The  valve  was  usual- 
ly the  double-poppet.  Sickels  subsequently  invented  what 
was  called  the  "  beam -motion,"  to  detach  the  valve  at  any 
point  in  the  stroke.  As  at  first  arranged,  the  valve  could 
only  be  detached  during  the  earlier  half-stroke,  since  at 
mid-stroke  the  direction  of  motion  of  the  eccentric  rod  was 
reversed  and  the  valve  began  to  descend.  By  introducing  a 
"  wiper "  having  a  motion  transverse  to  that  of  the  valve 
and  its  catch,  and  by  giving  this  wiper  a  motion  coincident 
with  that  of  the  piston  by  connecting  it  with  the  beam  or 
other  part  of  the  engine  moving  with  the  piston,  he  ob- 
tained a  kinematic  combination  which  permitted  the  valve 
to  be  detached  at  any  point  in  the  stroke,  adding  a  very 
simple  contrivance  which  enabled  the  attendant  to  set  the 


318  THE   STEAM-ENGINE   OF   TO-DAY. 

wiper  so  that  it  should  strike  the  catch  at  any  time  during 
the  forward  movement  of  the  "  beam-motion." 

On  stationary  engines,  the  point  of  cut-off  was  afterward 
determined  by  the  governor,  which  was  made  to  operate 
the  detaching  mechanism,  the  combination  forming  what 
is  sometimes  called  an  "automatic"  cut-off.  The  attach- 
ment of  the  governor  so  as  to  determine  the  degree  of  ex- 
pansion had  been  proposed  before  Sickels's  time.  One  of 
the  earliest  of  these  contrivances  was  that  of  Zachariah 
Allen,  in  1834,  using  a  cut-off  valve  independent  of  the 
steam-valve.  The  first  to  so  attach  the  governor  to  a  drop 
cut-off  valve-motion  was  George  H.  Corliss,  who  made  it 
a  feature  of  the  Corliss  valve-gear  in  1849.  In  the  year 
1855,  N.  T.  Greene  introduced  a  form  of  expansion-gear, 
in  which  he  combined  the  range  of  the  Sickels  beam-motion 
device  with  the  expansion-adjustment  gained  by  the  attach- 
ment of  the  governor,  and  with  the  advantages  of  flat  slide- 
valves  at  all  ports — both  steam  and  exhaust. 

Many  other  ingenious  forms  of  expansion  valve-gear 
have  been  invented,  and  several  have  been  introduced, 
which,  properly  designed  and  proportioned  to  well-planned 
engines,  and  with  good  construction  and  management, 
should  give  economical  results  little  if  at  all  inferior  to 
those  just  named.  Among  the  most  ingenious  of  these 
later  devices  is  that  of  Babcock  &  Wilcox,  in  which  a  very 
small  auxiliary  steam-cylinder  and  piston  is  employed  to 
throw  the  cut-off  valve  over  its  port  at  the  instant  at  which 
the  steam  is  to  be  cut  off.  A  very  beautiful  form  of  iso- 
chronous governor  is  used  on  this  engine,  to  regulate  the 
speed  of  the  engine  by  determining  the  point  of  cut-off. 

In  Wright's  engine,  the  expansion  is  adjusted  by  the 
movement,  by  the  regulator,  of  cams  which  operate  the 
steam-valves  so  that  they  shall  hold  the  valve  open  a  longer 
or  shorter  time,  as  required. 

Since  compactness  and  lightness  are  not  as  essential  as 
in  portable,  locomotive,  and  marine  engines,  the  parts  are 


STATIONARY  ENGINES.  319 

arranged,  in  stationary  engines,  with  a  view  simply  to  se- 
curing efficiency,  and  the  design  is  determined  by  circum- 
stances. It  was  formerly  usual  to  adopt  the  condensing 
engine  in  mills,  and  wherever  a  stationary  engine  was  re- 
quired. In  Europe  generally,  and  to  some  extent  in  the 
United  States,  where  a  supply  of  condensing  water  is  ob- 
tainable, condensing  engines  and  moderate  steam-pressures 
are  still  employed.  But  this  type  of  engine  is  gradually 
becoming  superseded  by  the  high-pressure  condensing  en- 
gine, with  considerable  expansion,  and  with  an  expansion- 
gear  in  which  the  point  of  cut-off  is  determined  by  the 
governor. 

The  best-known  engine  of  this  class  is  the  Corliss  en- 
gine, which  is  very  extensively  used  in  the  United  States, 
and  which  has  been  copied  very  generally  by  European 
builders.  Fig.  97  represents  the  Corliss  engine.  The 


FIG.  97. — Corliss  Engine. 


horizontal  steam-cylinder  is  bolted  firmly  to  the.  end  of  the 
frame,  which  is  so  formed  as  to  transmit  the  strain  to  the 
main  journal  with  the  greatest  directness.  The  frame  car- 
ries the  guides  for  the  cross-head,  which  are  both  in  the 
same  vertical  plane.  The  valves  are  four  in  number,  a 
steam  and  an  exhaust  valve  being  placed  at  each  end  of  the 
steam-cylinder.  Short  steam-passages  are  thus  secured,  and 


320  THE  STEAM-ENGINE   OF   TO-DAY. 

this  diminution  of  clearance  is  a  source  of  some  economy. 
Both  sets  of  valves  are  driven  by  an  eccentric  operating  a 
disk  or  wrist-plate,  E  (Fig.  98),  which  vibrates  on  a  pin  pro- 
jecting from  the  cylinder.  Short  links  reaching  from  this 
wrist-plate  to  the  several  valves,  D  D,  FF,  move  them  with 


FIG.  9a— Corliss  Engine  Valve-Motion. 

a  peculiarly  varying  motion,  opening  and  closing  them  rap- 
idly, and  moving  them  quite  slowly  when  the  port  is  either 
nearly  open  or  almost  closed.  This  effect  is  ingeniously 
secured  by  so  placing  the  pins  on  the  wrist-plate  that  their 
line  of  motion  becomes  nearly  transverse  to  the  direction  of 
the  valve-links  when  the  limit  of  movement  is  approached. 
The  links  connecting  the  wrist-plate  with  the  arms  moving 
the  steam-valves  have  catches  at  their  extremities,  which 
are  disengaged  by  coming  in  contact,  as  the  arm  swings 
around  with  the  valve-stem,  with  a  cam  adjusted  by  the 
governor.  This  adjustment  permits  the  steam  to  follow  the 
piston  farther  when  the  engine  is  caused  to  "  slow  down," 
and  thus  tends  to  restore  the  proper  speed.  It  disengages 
the  steam-valve  earlier,  and  expands  the  steam  to  a  greater 


STATIONARY   ENGINES.  321 

extent,  when  the  engine  begins  to  run  above  the  proper 
speed.  When  the  catch  is  thrown  out,  the  valve  is  closed 
by  a  weight  or  a  strong  spring.  To  prevent  jar  when  the 
motion  of  the  valve  is  checked,  a  "  dash-pot "  is  used,  in- 
vented originally  by  F.  E.  Sickels.  This  is  a  vessel  having 
a  nicely-fitted  piston,  which  is  received  by  a  "  cushion  "  of 
water  or  air  when  the  piston  suddenly  enters  the  cylinder 
at  the  end  of  the  valve-movement.  In  the  original  water 
dash-pot  of  Sickels,  the  cylinder  is  vertical,  and  the  plunger 


FIG.  99.— Greene  Engine. 

or  piston  descends  upon  a  small  body  of  water  confined  in 
the  base  of  the  dash-pot.  Corliss's  air  dash-pot  is  now  often 
set  horizontally. 

In  the  Greene  steam-engine   (Fig.  99),  the  valves  are 


322  THE   STEAM-ENGINE   OF  TO-DAY. 

four  in  number,  as  in  the  Corliss.  The  cut-off  gear  consists 
of  a  bar,  A,  moved  by  the  steam-eccentric  in  a  direction 
parallel  with  the  centre-line  of  the  cylinder  and  nearly  co- 
incident as  to  time  with  the  piston.  On  this  bar  are  tap- 
pets, C  C,  supported  by  springs  and  adjustable  in  height  by 
the  governor,  G.  These  tappets  engage  the  arms  B  It,  on 
the  ends  of  rock-shafts,  E E,  which  move  the  steam -valves 
and  remain  in  contact  with  them  a  longer  or  shorter  time, 
and  holding  the  valve  open  during  a  greater  or  less  part  of 
the  piston-stroke,  as  the  governor  permits  the  tappets  to 
rise  with  diminishing  engine-speed,  or  forces  them  down  as 
speed  increases.  The  exhaust-valves  are  moved  by  an  in- 
dependent eccentric  rod,  which  is  itself  moved  by  an  eccen- 


FIG.  100.— Thureton's  Greene-Engine  Valve-Gear. 

trie  set,  as  is  usual  with  the  Corliss  and  with  other  engines 
generally,  at  right  angles  with  the  crank.  This  engine,  in 
consequence  of  the  independence  of  the  steam-eccentric, 
and  of  the  contemporary  movement  of  steam  valve-motion 
and  steam-piston,  is  capable  of  cutting  off  at  any  point 
from  beginning  to  nearly  the  end  of  the  stroke.  The  usual 
arrangement,  by  which  steam  and  exhaust  valves  are  moved 
by  the  same  eccentric,  only  permits  expansion  with  the 
range  from  the  beginning  to  half-stroke.  In  the  Corliss 
engine  the  latter  construction  is  retained,  with  the  object, 
in  part,  of  securing  a  means  of  closing  the  valve  by  a  "  pos- 
itive motion,"  should,  by  any  accident,  the  closing  not  be 
effected  by  the  weight  or  spring  usually  relied  upon. 


STATIONARY  ENGINES.  323 

The  steam-valve  of  the  Greene  engine,  as  designed  by 
the  author,  is  seen  in  Fig.  100,  where  the  valve,  Or  IT,  cov- 
ering the  port,  D,  in  the  steam-cylinder,  A  B,  is  moved  by 
the  rod,  J  J,  connected  to  the  rock-shaft,  M,  by  the  arm, 
L  K,  The  line,  K  I,  should,  when  carried  out,  intersect 
the  valve-face  at  its  middle  point,  under  Gr. 

The  characteristics  of  the  American  stationary  engine, 
therefore,  are  high  steam-pressure  without  condensation,  an 
expansion  valve-gear  with  drop  cut-off  adjustable  by  the 
governor,  high  piston-speed,  and  lightness  combined  with 
strength  of  construction.  The  pressure  most  commonly 
adopted  in  the  boilers  which  furnish  steam  to  this  type  of 
engine  is  from  75  to  80  pounds  per  square  inch  ;  but  a 
pressure  of  100  pounds  is  not  infrequently  carried,  and  the 
latter  pressure  may  be  regarded  as  a  "mean  maximum," 
corresponding  to  a  pressure  of  60  pounds  at  about  the 
commencement  of  the  period  here  considered — 1850. 

Very  much  greater  pressures  have,  however,  been  adopt- 
ed by  some  makers,  and  immensely  "higher  steam"  has 
been  experimented  with  by  several  engineers.  As  early  as 
1823,  Jacob  Perkins *  commenced  experimenting  with  steara 
of  very  great  tension.  As  has  already  been  stated,  the  usual 
pressure  at  the  time  of  "Watt  was  but  a  few  pounds — 5  or 
7 — in  excess  of  that  of  the  atmosphere.  Evans,  Trevithick, 
and  Stevens,  had  previously  worked  steam  at  pressures  of 
from  50  to  75  pounds  per  square  inch,  and  pressures  on  the 
Western  rivers  and  elsewhere  in  the  United  States  had  al- 
ready been  raised  to  100  or  150  pounds,  and  explosions  were 
becoming  alarmingly  frequent. 

Perkins's  experimental  apparatus  consisted  of  a  copper 
boiler,  of  a  capacity  of  about  one  cubic  foot,  having  sides 
3  inches  in  thickness.  It  was  closed  at  the  bottom  and 
top,  and  had  five  small  pipes  leading  from  the  upper  head. 

1  Perkins  was  a  native  of  Newburyport,  Mass.  lie  was  born  July  9, 
1766,  and  died  in  London,  July  30,  1849.  He  went  to  England  when  fifty- 
,  two  years  of  age,  to  introduce  his  inventions. 


324  THE   STEAM-ENGINE   OF  TO-DAY. 

This  was  placed  in  a  furnace  kept  at  a  high  temperature  by 
a  forced  combustion.  Safety-valves  loaded  respectively  to 
425  and  550  pounds  per  square  inch  were  placed  on  each  of 
two  of  the  steam-pipes. 

Perkins  used  the  steam  generated  under  these  great 
pressures  in  a  little  engine  having  a  piston  2  inches  in  diam- 
eter and  a  stroke  of  1  foot.  It  was  rated  at  10  horse-power.1 

In  the  year  1827,  Perkins  had  attained  working  press- 
ures, in  a  single-acting,  single-cylinder  engine,  of  upward 
of  800  pounds  per  square  inch.  At  pressures  exceeding  200 
pounds,  he  had  much  trouble  in  securing  effective  lubrica- 
tion, as  all  oils  charred  and  decomposed  at  the  high  tem- 
peratures then  unavoidably  encountered,  and  he  finally  suc- 
ceeded in  evading  this  seemingly  insurmountable  obstacle 
by  using  for  rubbing  parts  a  peculiar  alloy  which  required 
no  lubrication,  and  which  became  so  beautifully  polished, 
after  some  wear,  that  the  friction  was  less  than  where  lu- 
bricants were  used.  At  these  high  pressures  Perkins  seems 
to  have  met  with  no  other  serious  difficulty.  He  condensed 
the  exhaust-steam  and  returned  it  to  the  boiler,  but  did  not 
attempt  to  create  a  vacuum  in  his  condenser,  and  therefore 
needed  no  air-pump.  Steam  was  cut  off  at  one-eighth 
stroke. 

In  the  same  year,  Perkins  made  a  compound  engine  on 
the  Woolf  plan,  and  adopted  a  pressure  of  1,400  pounds,  ex- 

1  It  was  when  writing  of  this  engine  that  Stuart  wrote,  in  1S24:  "Judg- 
ing from  the  rapid  strides  the  steam-engine  has  made  during  the  last  forty 
years  to  become  a  universal  first-mover,  and  from  the  experience  that  has 
arisen  from  that  extension,  we  feel  convinced  that  every  invention  which 
diminishes  its  size  without  impairing  its  power  brings  it  a  step  nearer  to  the 
assistance  of  the  '  world's  great  laborers,'  the  husbandman  and  the  peas- 
ant, for  whom,  as  yet,  it  performs  but  little.  At  present,  it  is  made  occa- 
sionally to  tread  out  the  corn.  What  honors  await  not  that  man  who  may 
yet  direct  its  mighty  power  to  plough,  to  sow,  to  harrow,  and  to  reap ! "  The 
progress  of  the  steam-engine  during  those  forty  years  does  not  to-day  ap- 
pear so  astounding.  The  sentiment  here  expressed  has  lost  none  of  its 
truth,  nevertheless. 


STATIONARY  ENGINES.  325 

panding  eight  times.  In  still  another  engine,  intended  for  a 
steam- vessel,  Perkins  adopted,  or  proposed  to  adopt,  2,000 
pounds  pressure,  cutting  off  the  admission  at  one-sixteenth, 
in  single-acting  engines  of  6  inches  diameter  of  cylinder 
and  20  inches  stroke  of  piston.  The  steam  did  not  retain 
boiler-pressure  at  the  cylinder,  and  this  engine  was  only 
rated  at  30  horse-power.1 

Stuart  follows  a  description  of  Perkins's  work  in  the 
improvement  of  the  steam-engine  and  the  introduction  of 
steam-artillery  by  the  remark  : 

" .  .  .  .  No  other  mechanic  of  the  day  has  done  more 
to  illustrate  an  obscure  branch  of  philosophy  by  a  series  of 
difficult,  dangerous,  and  expensive  experiments  ;  no  one's 
labors  have  been  more  deserving  of  cheering  encourage- 
ment, and  no  one  has  received  less.  Even  in  their  present 
state,  his  experiments  are  opening  new  fields  for  philosoph- 
ical research,  and  his  mechanism  bids  fair  to  introduce  a 
new  style  into  the  proportions,  construction,  and  form,  of 
steam-machinery." 

Perkins's  experience  was  no  exception  to  the  general 
rule,  which  denies  to  nearly  all  inventors  a  fair  return  for 
the  benefits  which  they  confer  upon  mankind. 

Another  engineer,  a  few  years  later,  was  also  successful 
in  controlling  and  working  steam  under  much  higher  press- 
ures than  are  even  now  in  use.  This  was  Dr.  Ernst  Alban, 
a  distinguished  German  engine-builder,  of  Plau,  Mecklen- 
burg, and  an  admirer  of  Oliver  Evans,  in  whose  path  he,  a 
generation  later,  advanced  far  beyond  that  great  pioneer. 
Writing  in  1843,  he  describes  a  system  of  engine  and  boiler 
construction,  with  which  he  used  steam  under  pressures 
about  equal  to  those  experimentally  worked  by  Jacob  Per- 
kins, Evans's  American  successor.  Alban's  treatise  was 
translated  and  printed  in  Great  Britain,2  four  years  later. 

1  Galloway  and  Ilebert,  on  the  Steam-Engine.     London,  1836. 

2  "  The  High-Pressure  Steam-Engine,"  etc.    By  Dr.  Ernst  Alban.    Trans- 
lated by  William  Pole,  F.  R.  A.  S.     London,  1847. 


326  THE  STEAM-EXGINE  OF  TO-DAY. 

Alban,  on  one  occasion,  used  steam  of  1,000  pounds 
pressure.  His  boilers  were  similar  in  general  form  to  the 
boiler  patented  by  Stevens  in  1805,  but  the  tubes  were  hor- 
izontal instead  of  vertical.  He  evaporated  from  8  to  10 
pounds  of  water  into  steam  of  600  to  800  pounds  pressure 
with  each  pound  of  coal.  He  states  that  the  difficulty  met 
by  Perkins — the  decomposition  of  lubricants  in  the  steam- 
cylinder — did  not  present  itself  in  his  experiments,  even 
when  working  steam  at  a  pressure  of  600  pounds  on  the 
square  inch,  and  he  found  that  less  lubrication  was  needed 
at  such  high  pressures  than  in  ordinary  practice.  Alban 
expanded  his  steam  about  as  much  as  Evans,  in  his  usual 
practice,  carrying  a  pressure  of  150  pounds,  and  cutting  off 
at  one-third  ;  he  adopted  greatly  increased  piston-speed,  at- 
taining 300  feet  per  minute,  at  a  time  when  common  practice 
had  only  reached  200  feet.  He  usually  built  an  oscillating 
engine,  and  rarely  attached  a  condenser.  The  valve  was  the 
locomotive -slide.1  The  stroke  was  made  short  to  secure 
strength,  compactness,  cheapness,  and  high  speed  of  rota- 
tion ;  but  Alban  does  not  seem  to  have  understood  the 
principles  controlling  the  form  and  proportions  of  the  ex- 
pansive engine,  or  the  necessity  of  adopting  considerable 
expansion  in  order  to  secure  economy  in  working  steam  of 
great  tension,  and  therefore  was,  apparently,  not  aware  of 
the  advantages  of  a  long  stroke  in  reducing  losses  by  "  dead- 
space,"  in  reducing  risk  of  annoyance  by  hot  journals,  or  in 
enabling  high  piston-speeds  to  be  adopted.  He  seems 
never  to  have  attained  a  sufficiently  high  speed  of  piston  to 
become  aware  that  the  oscillating  cylinder  cannot  be  used 
at  speeds  perfectly  practicable  with  the  fixed  cylinder. 

Alban  states  that  one  of  his  smallest  engines,  having  a 
cylinder  4£  inches  in  diameter  and  1  foot  stroke  of  piston, 
with  a  piston-speed  of  but  140  to  160  feet  per  minute,  de- 
veloped 4  horse-power,  with  a  consumption  of  5.3  pounds 

•Invented  by  Joseph  Maudsley,  of  London,  1827. 


STATIONARY  ENGINES.  327 

of  coal  per  hour.  This  is  a  good  result  for  so  small  an 
amount  of  work,  and  for  an  engine  working  at  so  low  a 
speed  of  piston.  An  engine  of  30  horse-power,  also  work- 
ing very  slowly,  required  but  4.1  pounds  of  coal  per  hour 
per  horse-power. 

The  work  of  Perkins  and  of  Alban,  like  that  of  their 
predecessors,  Evans,  Stevens,  and  Trevithick,  was,  however, 
the  work  of  engineers  who  were  far  ahead  of  their  time. 
The  general  practice,  up  to  the  time  which  marked  the 
beginning  of  the  modern  "  period  of  refinement,"  had  been 
but  gradually  approximating  that  just  described.  Higher 
pressures  were  slowly  approached  ;  higher  piston-speeds 
came  slowly  into  use  ;  greater  expansion  was  gradually 
adopted  ;  the  causes  of  losses  of  heat  were  finally  discov- 
ered, and  steam-jacketing  and  external  non-conducting  cov- 
erings were  more  and  more  generally  applied  as  builders 
became  more  familiar  with  their  work.  The  "  compound 
engine  "  was  now  and  then  adopted  ;  and  each  experiment, 
made  with  higher  steam  and  greater  expansion,  was  more 
nearly  successful  than  the  last. 

Finally,  all  these  methods  of  securing  economy  became 
recognized,  and  the  reasons  for  their  adoption  became 
known.  It  then  remained,  as  the  final  step  in  this  progres- 
sion, to  combine  all  these  requisites  of  economical  working 
in  a  double-cylinder  engine,  steam-jacketed,  well  protected 
by  non-conducting  coverings,  working  steam  of  high  press- 
ure, and  with  considerable  expansion  at  high  piston-speed. 
This  is  now  done  by  the  best  builders. 

One  of  the  best  examples  of  this  type  of  engine  is  that 
constructed  by  the  sons  of  Jacob  Perkins,  who  continued 
the  work  of  their  father  after  his  death.  Their  engines  are 
single-acting,  and  the  small  or  high-pressure  cylinder  is 
placed  on  the  top  of  the  larger  or  low-pressure  cylinder. 
The  valves  are  worked  by  rotating  stems,  and  the  loss  of 
heat  and  burning  of  packing  incident  to  the  use  of  the  com- 
mon method  are  thus  avoided.  The  stuffing-boxes  are 


328  THE    STEAM-ENGINE    OF   TO-DAY. 

placed  at  the  end  of  long  sleeves,  closely  surrounding  the 
vertical  valve-stems  also,  and  the  water  of  condensation 
which  collects  in  these  sleeves  is  an  additional  and  thorough 
protection  against  excessively  high  temperature  at  the  pack- 
ing. The  piston-rings  are  made  of  the  alloy  which  has  been 
found  to  require  no  lubrication. 

Steam  is  usually  worked  at  from  250  to  450  pounds,  and 
is  generated  in  boilers  composed  of  small  tubes  three  inches 
in  diameter  and  three-eighths  of  an  inch  thick,  which  are 
tested  under  a  pressure  of  2,500  pounds  per  square  inch. 
The  safety-valve  is  usually  loaded  to  400  pounds.  The 
boiler  is  fed  with  distilled  water,  obtained  principally  by 
condensation  of  the  exhaust-steam,  any  deficiency  being 
made  up  by  the  addition  of  water  from  a  distilling  appa- 
ratus. Under  these  conditions,  but  1£  pound  of  coal  is 
consumed  per  hour  and  per  horse-power. 

THE  PTJMPING-ENGINE  in  use  at  the  present  time  has 
passed  through  a  series  of  changes  not  differing  much  from 
that  which  has  been  traced  with  the  stationary  mill-engine. 
The  Cornish  engine  is  still  used  to  some  extent  for  supply- 
ing water  to  towns,  and  is  retained  at  deep  mines.  The 
modern  Cornish  engine  differs  very  little  from  that  of  the 
time  of  Watt,  except  in  the  proportions  of  parts  and  the 
form  of  its  details.  Steam-pressures  are  carried  which  were 
never  reached  during  the  preceding  period,  and,  by  careful 
adjustment  of  well-set  and  well-proportioned  valves  and 
gearing,  the  engine  has  been  made  to  work  rather  more  rap- 
idly, and  to  do  considerably  more  work.  It  still  remains, 
however,  a  large,  costly,  and  awkward  contrivance,  requir- 
ing expensive  foundations,  and  demanding  exceptional  care, 
skill,  and  experience  in  management.  It  is  gradually  going 
out  of  use.  This  engine,  as  now  constructed  by  good 
builders,  is  shown  in  section  in  Fig.  101. 

A  comparison  with  the  Watt  engine  of  a  century  earlier 
will  at  once  enable  any  one  to  appreciate  the  extent  to 
which  changes  may  be  made  in  perfecting  a  machine,  even 


STATIONARY  ENGINES. 


after  it  has  become  complete,  so  far  as  supplying  it  with 
all  essential  parts  can  complete  it. 

In  the  figure,  A.  is  the  cylinder,  taking  steam  from  the 
boiler  through  the  steam-passage,  M.  The  steam  is  first 
admitted  above  the  piston,  J3,  driving  it  rapidly  downward 


FIG.  lOl.-Cornish  Pumping-Engine,  1880» 


and  raising  the  pump-rod,  E.  At  an  early  period  in  the 
stroke  the  admission  of  steam  is  checked  by  the  sudden 
closing  of  the  induction-valve  at  M,  and  the  stroke  is  com- 
pleted under  the  action  of  expanding  steam  assisted  by  the 
inertia  of  the  heavy  parts  already  in  motion.  The  neces- 
sary weight  and  inertia  is  afforded,  in  many  cases,  where 
the  engine  is  applied  to  the  pumping  of  deep  mines,  by  the 


330  THE   STEAM-ENGINE   OF  TO-DAY. 

immensely  long  and  heavy  pump-rods.  Where  this  weight 
is  too  great,  it  is  counterbalanced,  and  where  too  small, 
weights  are  added.  When  the  stroke  is  completed,  the 
"  equilibrium  valve  "  is  opened,  and  the  steam  passes  from 
above  to  the  space  below  the  piston,  and  an  equilibrium  of 
pressure  being  thus  produced,  the  pump-rods  descend,  forc- 
ing the  water  from  the  pumps  and  raising  the  steam-piston. 
The  absence  of  the  crank,  or  other  device  which  might  de- 
termine absolutely  the  length  of  stroke,  compels  a  very 
careful  adjustment  of  steam-admission  to  the  amount  of 
load.  Should  the  stroke  be  allowed  to  exceed  the  proper 
length,  and  should  danger  thus  arise  of  the  piston  striking 
the  cylinder-head,  N,  the  movement  is  checked  by  buffer- 
beams.  The  valve-motion  is  actuated  by  a  plug-rod,  J K, 
as  in  Watt's  engine.  The  regulation  is  effected  by  a  "  cata- 
ract," a  kind  of  hydraulic  governor,  consisting  of  a  plunger- 
pump,  with  a  reservoir  attached.  The  plunger  is  raised  by 
the  engine,  and  then  automatically  detached.  It  falls  with 
greater  or  less  rapidity,  its  velocity  being  determined  by 
the  size  of  the  eduction-orifice,  which  is  adjustable  by  hand. 
When  the  plunger  reaches  the  bottom  of  the  pump-barrel, 
it  disengages  a  catch,  a  weight  is  allowed  to  act  upon  the 
steam-valve,  opening  it,  and  the  engine  is  caused  to  make  a 
stroke.  When  the  outlet  of  the  cataract  is  nearly  closed, 
the  engine  stands  still  a  considerable  time  while  the  plunger 
is  descending,  and  the  strokes  succeed  each  other  at  long 
intervals.  When  the  opening  is  greater,  the  cataract  acts 
more  rapidly,  and  the  engine  works  faster.  This  has  been 
regarded  until  recently  as  the  most  economical  of  pumping- 
engines,  and  it  is  still  generally  used  in  freeing  mines  of 
water,  and  in  situations  where  existing  heavy  pump-rods 
may  be  utilized  in  counterbalancing  the  steam-pressure, 
and,  by  their  inertia,  in  continuing  the  motion  after  the 
steam,  by  its  expansion,  has  become  greatly  reduced  in 
pressure. 

In  this  engine  a  gracefully-shaped  and  strong  beam,  Z>, 


STATIONARY  ENGINES. 


331 


has  taken  the  place  of  the  ruder  beam  of  the  earlier  period, 
and  is  carried  on  a  well-built  wall  of  masonry,  R.  F  is  the 
exhaust-valve,  by  which  the  beam  passes  to  the  condenser, 
Gr,  beside  which  is  the  air-pump,  H,  and  the  hot-well,  I. 
The  cylinder  is  steam-jacketed,  Py  and  protected  against 
losses  of  heat  by  radiation  by  a  brick  wall,  0,  the  whole 
resting  on  a  heavy  foundation,  Q. 

The  Bull  Cornish  engine  is  also  still  not  infrequently 
seen  in  use.  The  Cornish  engine  of  Great  Britain  averages 
a  duty  of  about  45,000,000  pounds  raised  one  foot  high  per 
100  pounds  of  coal.  More  than  double  this  economy  has 
sometimes  been  attained. 


FIQ.  102.-Steam-Pump. 


A  vastlv  simpler  form  of  pumping-engine  without  fly- 
wheel is  the  now  common  "  direct-acting  steam-pump." 
This  engine  is  generally  made  use  of  in  feeding  steam- 
boilers,  as  a  forcing  and  fire  pump,  and  wherever  the 


332  THE    STEAM-ENGINE   OF   TO-DAY. 

amount  of  water  to  be  moved  is  not  large,  and  where  the 
pressure  is  comparatively  great.  The  steam-cylinder,  A  72, 
and  feed-pump,  B  Q  (Fig.  102),  are  in  line,  and  the  two 
pistons  have  usually  one  rod,  D,  in  common.  The  two  cyl- 
inders are  connected  by  a  strong  frame,  N,  and  two  stand- 
ards fitted  with  lugs  carry  the  whole,  and  serve  as  a  means 
of  bolting  the  pump  to  the  floor  or  to  its  foundation. 

The  method  of  working  the  steam-valve  of  the  modern 
steam-pump  is  ingenious  and  peculiar.  As  shown,  the  pis- 
tons are  moving  toward  the  left ;  when  they  reach  the  end 
of  their  stroke,  the  face  of  the  piston  strikes  a  pin  or  other 
contrivance,  and  thus  moves  a  small  auxiliary  valve,  7", 
which  opens  a  port,  E,  and  causes  steam  to  be  admitted  be- 
hind a  piston,  or  permits  steam  to  be  exhausted,  as  in  the 
figure,  from  before  the  auxiliary  piston,  F,  and  the  pressure 
within  the  main  steam-chest  then  forces  that  piston  over, 
moving  the  main  steam-valve,  Or,  to  which  it  is  attached, 
admitting  steam  to  the  left-hand  side  of  the  main  piston, 
and  exhausting  on  the  right-hand  side,  A.  Thus  the  mo- 
tion of  the  engine  operates  its  own  valves  in  such  a  manner 
that  it  is  never  liable  to  stop  working  at  the  end  of  the  stroke, 
notwithstanding  the  absence  of  the  crank  and  fly-wheel,  or 
of  independent  mechanism,  like  the  cataract  of  the  Cornish 
engine.  There  is  a  very  considerable  variety  of  pumps  of 
this  class,  all  differing  in  detail,  but  all  presenting  the  dis- 
tinguishing feature  of  auxiliary  valve  and  piston,  and  a 
connection  by  which  it  and  the  main  engine  each  works  the 
valve  of  the  other  combination. 

In  some  cases  these  pumps  are  made  of  considerable 
size,  and  are  applied  to  the  elevation  of  water  in  situations 
to  which  the  Cornish  engine  was  formerly  considered  exclu- 
sively applicable.  The  accompanying  figure  illustrates  such 
a  pumping-engine,  as  built  for  supplying  cities  with  water. 
This  is  a  "  compound  "  direct-acting  pumping-engine.  The 
cylinders,  A  B,  are  placed  in  line,  working  one  pump,  F, 
and  operating  their  own  air-pumps,  D  Z>,  by  a  bell-crank 


STATIONARY  ENGINES.  333 

lever,  Xi  IT,  connected  to  the  pump-buckets  by  links,  IK. 
Steam  exhausted  from  the  small  cylinder,  A,  is  further  ex- 
panded in  the  large  cylinder,  B,  and  thence  goes  to  the 


condenser,  C.  The  valves,  WM,  are  moved  by  the  valve- 
gear,  L,  which  is  actuated  by  the  piston-rod  of  a  similar 
pair  of  cylinders  placed  by  the  side  of  the  first.  These 


334 


THE   STEAM-ENGINE   OF  TO-DAY. 


valves  are  balanced,  and  the  balance-plates,  R  Q,  are  sus- 
pended from  the  rods,  0  P,  which  allow  them  to  move  with 
the  valves.  By  connecting  the  valves  of  each  engine  with 


STATIONARY  ENGINES.  335 

the  piston-rod  of  the  other,  it  is  seen  that  the  two  engines 
must  work  alternately,  the  one  making  a  stroke  while  the 
other  is  still,  and  then  itself  stopping  a  moment  while  the 
latter  makes  its  stroke. 

Water  enters  the  pump  through  the  induction-pipe,  E, 
passes  into  the  pump-barrel  through  the  valves,  V  V,  and 
issues  through  the  eduction-valves,  T  T,  and  goes  on  to  the 
"  mains  "  by  the  pipe,  G,  above  which  is  seen  an  air-cham- 
ber, which  assists  to  preserve  a  uniform  pressure  on  that 
side  the  pump.  This  engine  works  very  smoothly  and 
quietly,  is  cheap  and  durable,  and  has  done  excellent  duty. 

Beam  pumping-engines  are  now  almost  invariably  built 
with  crank  and  fly-wheel,  and  very  frequently  are  com- 
pound engines.  The  accompanying  illustration  represents 
an  engine  of  the  latter  form. 


FIG.  105.— Double-Cylinder  Pumping-Engine,  1S73. 

A  and  JB  are  the  two  steam-cylinders,  connected  by 
links  and  parallel  motion,  C  Z>,  to  the  great  cast-iron  beam, 
E  F.     At  the  opposite  end  of  the  beam,  the  connectiag- 
10 


336 


THE   STEAM-ENGINE   OF  TO-DAY. 


rod,  6r,  turns  a  crank,  II,  and  fly-wheel,  L  Hf,  which  regu- 
lates the  motion  of  the  engine  and  controls  the  length  of 
stroke,  averting  all  danger  of  accident  occurring  in  conse- 


FIG.  106.-Th 


quence  of  the  piston  striking  either  cylinder-head.  The 
beam  is  carried  on  handsomely-shaped  iron  columns,  which, 
with  cylinders,  pump,  and  fly-wheel,  are  supported  by  a 


STATIONARY  ENGINES. 


337 


substantial  stone  foundation.  The  pump-rod,  I,  works  a 
double-acting  pump,  J,  and  the  resistance  to  the  issuing 
water  is  rendered  uniform  by  an  air-chamber,  K,  within 
which  the  water  rises  and  falls  when  pressures  tend  to  vary 
greatly.  A  revolving  shaft,  N,  driven  from  the  fly-wheel 
shaft,  carries  cams,  0  JP,  which  move  the  lifting-rods  seen 
directly  over  them  and  the  valves  which  they  actuate.  Be- 
tween the  steam-cylinders  and  the  columns  which  carry  the 
beams  is  a  well,  in  which  are  placed  the  condenser  and  air- 


FIQ.  107.— The  Leavitt  Pumping-Engine. 

pump.      Steam  is  carried  at  GO  or  80  pounds  pressure,  and 
expanded  from  6  to  10  times. 

A  later  form  of  double-cylinder  beam  punaping-engine 
is  that  invented  and  designed  by  E.  D.  Leavitt,  Jr.,  for  the 
Lawrence  Water-Works,  and  shown  in  Figs.  106  and  107. 
The  two  cylinders  are  placed  one  on  each  side  the  centre  of 
the  beam,  and  are  so  inclined  that  they  may  be  coupled  to 


338  THE   STEAM-EXGINE   OF   TO-DAY. 

opposite  ends  of  it,  while  their  lower  ends  are  placed  close 
together.  At  their  upper  ends  a  valve  is  placed  at  each 
end  of  the  connecting  steam-pipe.  At  their  lower  ends  a 
single  valve  serves  as  exhaust-valve  to  the  high-pressure 
and  as  steam-valve  to  the  low-pressure  cylinder.  The  pis- 
tons move  in  opposite  directions,  and  steam  is  exhausted 
from  the  high-pressure  cylinder  directly  into  the  nearer  end 
of  the  low-pressure  cylinder.  The  pump,  of  the  "  Thames- 
Ditton  "  or  "  bucket-and-plunger  "  variety,  takes  a  full  sup- 
ply of  water  on  the  down-stroke,  and  discharges  half  when 
rising  and  half  when  descending  again.  The  duty  of  this 
engine  is  reported  by  a  board  of  engineers  as  103,923,215 
foot-pounds  for  every  100  pounds  of  coal  burned.  The 
duty  of  a  moderately  good  engine  is  usually  considered  to 
be  from  60  to  70  millions.  This  engine  has  steam-cylinders 
of  17^  and  36  inches  diameter  respectively,  with  a  stroke  of 
7  feet.  The  pump  had  a  capacity  of  about  195  gallons, 
and  delivered  96  per  cent.  Steam  was  carried  at  a  pressure 
of  75  pounds  above  the  atmosphere,  and  was  expanded 
about  10  times.  •  Plain  horizontal  tubular  boilers  were  used, 
evaporating  8.58  pounds  of  water  from  98°  Fahr.  per  pound 
of  coal. 

STEAM-BOILERS. — The  steam  supplied  to  the  forms  of 
stationary  engine  which  have  been  described  is  generated  in 
steam-boilers  of  exceedingly  varied  forms.  The  type  used 
is  determined  by  the  extent  to  which  their  cost  is  increased 
in  the  endeavor  to  economize  fuel  by  the  pressure  of  steam 
carried,  by  the  greater  or  less  necessity  of  providing  against 
risk  of  explosion,  by  the  character  of  the  feed-water  to  be 
used,  by  the  facilities  which  may  exist  for  keeping  in  good 
repair,  and  even  by  the  character  of  the  men  in  whose 
hands  the  apparatus  is  likely  to  be  placed. 

As  has  been  seen,  the  changes  which  have  marked  the 
growth  and  development  of  the  steam-engine  have  been 
accompanied  by  equally  marked  changes  in  the  forms  of 
the  steam-boiler.  At  first,  the  same  vessel  served  the  dis- 


STATIONARY  ENGINES.  339 

tinct  purposes  of  steam-generator  and  steam-engine.  Later, 
it  became  separated  from  the  engine,  and  was  then  special- 
ly fitted  to  perform  its  own  peculiar  functions  ;  and  its  form 
went  through  a  series  of  modifications  under  the  action  of 
the  causes  already  stated. 

When  steam  began  to  be  usefully  applied,  and  consid- 
erable pressures  became  necessary,  the  forms  given  to  boil- 
ers were  approximately  spherical,  ellipsoidal,  or  cylindrical. 
Thus  the  boilers  of  De  Caus  (1615)  and  of  the  Marquis  of 
Worcester  (1663)  were  spherical  and  cylindrical ;  those  of 
Savory  (1698)  were  ellipsoidal  and  cylindrical.  After  the 
invention  of  the  steam-engine  of  Newcomen,  the  pressures 
adopted  were  again  very  low,  and  steam-boilers  were  given 
irregular  forms  until,  at  the  beginning  of  the  present  cen- 
tury, they  were  again  of  necessity  given  stronger  shapes. 
The  material  was  at  first  frequently  copper  ;  it  is  now  usu- 
ally wrought-iron,  and  sometimes  steel. 

The  present  forms  of  steam-boilers  may  be  classified  as 
plain,  flue,  and  tubular  boilers.  The  plain  cylindrical  or 
common  cylinder  boiler  is  the  only  representative  of  the  first 
class  in  common  use.  It  is  perfectly  cylindrical,  with  heads 
either  flat  or  hemispherical.  There  is  usually  attached 
to  the  boiler  a  "steam-drum"  (a  small  cylindrical  vessel), 
from  which  the  steam  is  taken  by  the  steam-pipe.  This  en- 
largement of  the  steam-space  permits  the  mist,  held  in  sus- 
pension by  the  steam  when  it  first  rises  from  the  surface  of 
the  water,  to  separate  more  or  less  completely  before  the 
steam  is  taken  from  the  boiler. 

Flue-boilers  are  frequently  cylindrical,  and  contain  one 
or  more  cylindrical  flues,  which  pass  through  from  end  to 
end,  beneath  the  water-line,  conducting  the  furnace-gases, 
and  affording  a  greater  area  of  heating-surface  than  can  be 
obtained  in  the  plain  boiler.  They  are  usually  from  30  to 
48  inches  in  diameter,  and  one  foot  or  less  in  length  for 
each  inch  of  diameter.  Some  are,  however,  made  100  feet 
and  more  in  length.  The  boiler  is  made  of  iron  ^  to  f  of  an 


340  THE   STEAM-ENGINE   OF  TO-DAY. 

inch  in  thickness,  with  hemispherical  or  carefully  stayed 
flat  heads,  and  without  flues.  The  whole  is  placed  in  a 
brickwork  setting.  These  boilers  are  used  where  fuel  is 
inexpensive,  where  the  cost  of  repairing  would  be  great,  or 
where  the  feed-water  is  impure.  A  cylindrical  boiler,  hav- 
ing one  flue  traversing  it  longitudinally,  is  called  a  Cornish 
boiler,  as  it  is  generally  supposed  to  have  been  first  used  in 
Cornwall.  It  was  probably  first  invented  by  Oliver  Evans 
in  the  United  States,  previous  to  1786,  at  which  time  he 
had  it  in  use.  The  flue  has  usually  a  diameter  0.5  or  0.6 
the  diameter  of  the  boiler.  A  boiler  containing  two  longi- 
tudinal flues  is  called  the  Lancashire  boiler.  This  form 
was  also  introduced  by  Oliver  Evans.  The  flues  have  one- 
third  the  diameter  of  the  boiler.  Several  flues  of  smaller 
diameter  are  often  used,  and  when  a  still  greater  propor- 
tional area  of  heating-surface  is  required,  tubes  of  from  1£ 
inch  to  4  or  5  inches  in  diameter  are  substituted  for  flues. 
The  flues  are  usually  constructed  by  riveting  sheets  to- 
gether, as  in  making  the  shell  or  outer  portion.  They  are 
sometimes  welded  by  British  manufacturers,  but  rarely  if 
ever  in  the  United  States.  Tubes  are  always  "  lap-welded  " 
in  the  process  of  rolling  them.  Small  tubes  were  first  used 
in  the  United  States,  about  1785.  In  portable,  locomotive, 
and  marine  steam-boilers,  the  fire  must  be  built  within  the 
boiler  itself,  instead  of  (as  in  the  above  described  stationary 
boilers)  in  a  furnace  of  brickwork  exterior  to  the  boiler. 
The  flame  and  gases  from  the  furnace  or  fire-box  in  these 
kinds  of  boiler  are  never  led  through  brick  passages  en 
route  to  the  chimney,  as  often  in  the  preceding  case,  but 
are  invariably  conducted  through  flues  or  tubes,  or  both,  to 
the  smoke-stack.  These  boilers  are  also  sometimes  used  as 
stationary  boilers.  Fig.  108  represents  such  a  steam-boiler 
in  section,  as  it  is  usually  exhibited  in  working  drawings. 
Provision  is  made  to  secure  a  good  circulation  of  water  in 
these  boilers  by  means  of  the  "  baffle-plates,"  seen  in  the 
sketch,  which  compel  the  water  to  flow  as  indicated  by  the 


STATIONARY   ENGINES. 


341 


arrows.  The  tubes  are  frequently  made  of  brass  or  of  cop- 
per, to  secure  rapid  transmission  of  heat  to  the  water,  and 
thus  to  permit  the  use  of  a  smaller  area  of  heating-surface 


Fio.  108.— Babcock  &  Wilcox's  Vcrtic 


and  a  smaller  boiler.  The  steam-space  is  made  as  large  as 
possible,  to  secure  immunity  from  "  priming "  or  the  "  en- 
trainment "  of  water  with  the  steam.  This  type  of  steam- 
boiler,  invented  by  Nathan  Read,  of  Salem,  Mass.,  in  1791, 
and  patented  in  April  of  that  year,  was  the  earliest  of  the 
tubular  boilers.  In  the  locomotive  boiler  (Fig.  109),  as  in 
the  preceding,  the  characteristics  are  a  fire-box  at  one  end 
of  the  shell  and  a  set  of  tubes  through  which  the  gases  pass 


342 


THE   STEAM-ENGINE   OF  TO-DAY. 


directly  to  the  smoke-stack.  Strength,  compactness,  great 
steaming  capacity,  fair  economy,  moderate  cost,  and  con- 
venience of  combination  with  the  running  parts,  are  secured 
by  the  adoption  of  this  form.  It  is  frequently  used  also 
for  portable  and  stationary  engines.  It  was  invented  in 
France  by  M.  Seguin,  and  in  England  by  Booth,  and  used 
by  George  Stephenson  at  about  the  same  time — 1828  or 
1829. 

Since  the  efficiency  of  a  steam-boiler  depends  upon  the 
extent  of  effective  heating-surface  per  unit  of  weight  of 
fuel  burned  in  any  given  time — or,  ordinarily,  upon  the 
ratio  of  the  areas  of  heating  and  grate  surface — peculiar 


FIG.  109. — Stationary  "Locomotive"  Boiler. 


expedients  are  sometimes  adopted,  having  for  their  object 
the  increase  of  heating-surface,  without  change  of  form  of 
boiler  and  without  proportionate  increase  of  cost. 

One  of  these  methods  is  that  of  the  use  of  Galloway 
conical  tubes  (Fig.  110).     These  are  very  largely  used  in 


STATIONARY   ENGINES.  343 

Great  Britain,  but  are  seldom  if  ever  seen  in  the  United 
States.  The  Cornish  boiler,  to  which  they  are  usually  ap- 
plied, consists  of  a  large  cylindrical  shell,  6  feet  or  more  in 
diameter,  containing  one  tube  of 
about  one-half  as  great  dimen- 
sions, or  sometimes  two  of  one- 
third  the  diameter  of  the  shell 
each.  Such  boilers  have  a  very 
small  ratio  of  heating  to  grate 
surface,  and  their  large  tubes  are 

peculiarly  liable  to  collapse.  To  remove  these  objections, 
the  Messrs.  Galloway  introduced  stay-tubes  into  the  flues, 
which  tubes  are  conical  in  form,  and  are  set  in  either  a  ver- 
tical or  an  inclined  position,  the  larger  end  uppermost. 
The  area  of  heating-surface  is  thus  greatly  increased,  and, 
at  the  same  time,  the  liability  to  collapse  is  reduced.  The 
same  results  are  obtained  by  another  device  of  Galloway, 
which  is  sometimes  combined  with  that  just  described  in 
the  same  boiler.  Several  sheets  in  the  flue  have  "pock- 
ets "  worked  into  them,  which  pockets  project  into  the  flue- 
passage. 

Another  device  is  that  of  an  American  engineer,  Miller, 
who  surrounds  the  furnace  of  cylindrical  and  other  boilers 
with  water-tubes.  The  "  fuel-economizers  "  of  Greene  and 
others  consist  of  similar  collections  of  tubes  set  in  the  flues, 
between  the  boiler  and  the  chimney. 

"  Sectional "  boilers  are  gradually  coming  into  use  with 
high  pressures,  on  account  of  their  greater  safety  against 
disastrous  explosions.  The  earliest  practicable  example  of 
a  boiler  of  this  class  was  probably  that  of  Colonel  John  Ste- 
vens, of  Hoboken,  N.  J.  Dr.  Alban,  who,  forty  years  later, 
attempted  to  bring  this  type  into  general  use,  and  con- 
structed a  number  of  such  boilers,  did  not  succeed.  Their 
introduction,  like  that  of  all  radical  changes  in  engineering, 
has  been  but  slow,  and  it  has  been  only  recently  that  their 
manufacture  has  become  an  important  branch  of  industry. 


344  THE   STEAM-ENGINE   OF  TO-DAY. 

A  committee  of  the  American  Institute,  of  which  the 
author  was  chairman,  in  1871,  examined  several  boilers  of 
this  and  the  ordinary  type,  and  tested  them  very  carefully. 
They  reported  that  they  felt  "  confident  that  the  introduc- 
tion of  this  class  of  steam-boilers  will  do  much  toward  the 
removal  of  the  cause  of  that  universal  feeling  of  distrust 
which  renders  the  presence  of  a  steam-boiler  so  objection- 
able in  every  locality.  The  difficulties  in  thoroughly  in- 
specting these  boilers,  in  regulating  their  action,  and  other 
faults  of  the  class,  are  gradually  being  overcome,  and  the 
committee  look  forward  with  confidence  to  the  time  when 
their  use  will  become  general,  to  the  exclusion  of  older  and 
more  dangerous  forms  of  steam-boilers." 

The  economical  performance  of  these  boilers  with  a  sim- 
ilar ratio  of  heating  to  grate  surface  is  equal  to  that  of 
other  kinds.  In  fact,  they  are  usually  given  a  somewhat 
higher  ratio,  and  their  economy  of  fuel  frequently  exceeds 
that  of  the  other  types.  Their  principal  defect  is  their 
small  capacity  for  steam  and  water,  which  makes  it  ex- 
tremely difficult  to  obtain  steady  steam-pressure.  Where 
they  are  employed,  the  feed  and  draught  should  be,  if  pos- 
sible, controlled  by  automatic  attachments,  and  the  feed- 
water  heated  to  the  highest  attainable  temperature.  Their 
satisfactory  working  depends,  more  than  in  other  cases,  on 
the  ability  of  the  fireman,  and  can  only  be  secured  by  the 
exercise  of  both  care  and  skill. 

Many  forms  of  these  boilers  have  been  devised.  Wal- 
ter Hancock  constructed  boilers  for  his  steam-carriage  of 
flat  plates  connected  by  stay-bolts,  several  such  sections 
composing  the  boiler  ;  and  about  the  same  time  (1828)  Sir 
Goldworthy  Gurney  constructed  for  a  similar  purpose  boil- 
ers consisting  of  a  steam  and  a  water  reservoir,  placed  one 
above  the  other,  and  connected  by  triangularly-bent  water- 
tubes  exposed  to  the  heat  of  the  furnace-gases.  Jacob  Per- 
kins made  many  experiments  looking  to  the  employment  of 
very  high  steam-pressures,  and  in  1831  patented  a  boiler  of 


STATIONARY   ENGINES. 


345 


this  class,  in  which  the  heating-surfaces  nearest  the  fire  were 
composed  of  iron  tubes,  which  tubes  also  served  as  grate- 
bars.  The  steam  and  water  space  was  principally  com- 
prised within  a  comparatively  large  chamber,  of  which  the 
walls  were  secured  by  closely  distributed  stay-bolts.  For 
extremely  high  pressures,  boilers  composed  only  of  tubes 
were  used.  Dr.  Ernst  Alban  described  the  boiler  already 
referred  to,  and  its  construction  and  operation,  and  stated 
that  he  had  experimented  with  pressures  as  high  as  1,000 
pounds  to  the  square  inch. 

The  Harrison  steam-boiler,  which  has  been  many  years 
in  use  in  the  United  States,  consists  of  several  sections,  each 
of  which  is  made  up  of  hollow  globes  of  cast-iron,  commu- 
nicating with  each  other  by  necks  cast  upon  the  spheres, 


FIG.  111.— Harrison's  Sectional  Boiler. 

and  fitted  together  with  faced  joints.  Long  bolts,  extend- 
ing from  end  to  end  of  each  row,  bind  the  spheres  together. 
(See  Fig.  111.) 

An  example  of  another  modern  type  in  extensive  use  is 
given  in  Fig.  112,  a  semi-sectional  boiler,  which  consists  of 
a  series  of  inclined  wrought-iron  tubes,  connected  by  T- 


346  THE   STEAM-ENGINE   OF  TO-DAY. 

heads,  which  form  the  vertical  water-channels,  at  each  end. 
The  joints  are  faced  by  milling  them,  and  then  ground  so 
perfectly  tight  that  a  pressure  of  500  pounds  to  the  square 
inch  is  insufficient  to  produce  leakage.  No  packing  is  used. 


FIG.  112.— Babcock  and  Wilcox's  Sectional  Boiler. 

The  fire  is  made  under  the  front  and  higher  end  of  the 
tubes,  and  the  products  of  combustion  pass  up  between  the 
tubes  into  a  combustion-chamber  under  the  steam  and  water 
drum  ;  hence  they  pass  down  between  the  tubes,  then  once 
more  up  through  the  space  between  the  tubes,  and  off  to 
the  chimney.  The  steam  is  taken  out  at  the  top  of  the 
steam-drum  near  the  back  end  of  the  boiler.  The  rapid 
circulation  prevents  to  some  extent  the  formation  of  de- 
posits or  incrustations  upon  the  heating-surfaces,  sweeping 
them  away  and  depositing  them  in  the  mud-drum,  whence 
they  are  blown  out.  Rapid  circulation  of  water,  as  has 
been  shown  by  Prof.  Trowbridge,  also  assists  in  the  ex- 
traction of  the  heat  from  the  gases,  by  the  presentation 
of  fresh  water  continually,  as  well  as  by  the  prevention  of 
incrustation. 


PORTABLE   AND    LOCOMOTIVE   ENGINES. 


347 


Attempts  have  been  made  to  adapt  sectional  boilers  to 
marine  engines  ;  but  very  little  progress  has  yet  been  made 


Fiu.  113.— Root  Sectional  Boiler. 

in  their  introduction.  The  Root  sectional  boiler  (Fig.  113), 
an  American  design,  which  is  in  extensive  use  in  the  United 
States  and  Europe,  has  also  been  experimentally  placed  in 
service  on  shipboard.  Its  heating-surface  consists  wholly 
of  tubes,  which  are  connected  by  a  peculiarly  formed 
series  of  caps ;  the  joints  are  made  tight  with  rubber 
"  grummets." 


SECTION  II. — PORTABLE  AND  LOCOMOTIVE  ENGINES. 

Engines  and  boilers,  when  of  small  size,  are  now  often 
combined  in  one  structure  which  may  be  readily  transport- 
ed. Where  they  have  a  common  base-plate  simply,  as  in 
Fig.  114,  they  are  called,  usually,  "semi-portable  engines." 
These  little  engines  have  some  decided  advantages.  Being 
attached  to  one  base,  the  combined  engine  and  boiler  is 


348 


THE   STEAM-ENGINE   OF  TO-DAY. 


easily  transported,  occupies  little  space,  and  may  very 
readily  be  mounted  upon  wheels,  rendering  it  peculiarly 
well  adapted  for  agricultural  purposes. 

The  example  here  shown  differs  in  its  design  from  those 
usually  seen  in  the  market.  The  engine  is  not  fastened  to 
or  upon  the  boiler,  and  is  therefore  not  affected  by  expan- 


Fia.  114.— Semi-Portable  Engine,  1ST8. 


sion,  nor  are  the  bearings  overheated  by  conduction  or  by 
ascending  heat  from  the  boiler.  The  fly-wheel  is  at  the 
base,  which  arrangement  secures  steadiness  at  the  high 
speed  which  is  a  requisite  for  economy  of  fuel.  The  boil- 
ers are  of  the  upright  tubular  style,  with  internal  fire-box. 


PORTABLE    AND   LOCOMOTIVE   ENGINES. 


349 


and  are  intended  to  be  worked  at  150  pounds  pressure  per 
inch.  They  are  fitted  with  a  baffle-plate  and  circulating-pipe, 
to  prevent  priming,  and  also  with  a  fusible  plug,  which  will 
melt  and  prevent  the  crown-sheet  of  the  boiler  burning,  if 
the  water  gets  low. 

Another  illustration  of  this  form  of  engine,  as  built  in 
small  sizes,  is  seen  below.     The  peculiarity  of  this  engine 


FIG.  115.— Semi- Portable  Engine,  1878. 

is,  that  the  cylinder  is  placed  in  the  top  of  the  boiler,  which 
is  upright.  By  this  arrangement  the  engine  is  constantly 
drawing  from  the  boiler  the  hottest  and  driest  steam,  and 
there  is  thus  no  liability  of  serious  loss  by  condensation, 
which  is  rapid,  even  in  a  short  pipe,  when  the  engine  is 
separate  from  the  boiler. 

The  engine  illustrated  is  rated  at  10  horse-power,  and 
makers  are  always  expected  to  guarantee  their  machines  to 


350  THE   STEAM-ENGINE   OF  TO-DAY. 

work  up  to  the  rated  power.  The  cylinder  is  7  by  7  inches, 
and  the  main  shaft  is  directly  over  it.  On  this  shaft  are 
three  eccentrics,  one  working  the  pump,  one  moving  the 
valves,  and  the  third  one  operating  the  cut-off.  The  driv- 
ing-pulley is  20  inches  in  diameter,  and  the  balance-wheel 
30  inches.  The  boiler  has  15  1^-inch  flues.  It  is  furnished 
with  a  heater  in  its  lower  portion.  The  boiler  of  this  en- 
gine is  tested  up  to  200  pounds,  and  is  calculated  to  carry 
100  pounds  working  pressure,  though  that  is  not  necessary 
to  develop  the  full  power  of  the  engine.  The  compactness 
of  the  whole  machine  is  exceptional.  It  can  be  set  up  in  a 
space  5  feet  square  and  8  feet  high.  The  weight  of  the  10 
horse-power  engine  is  1,540  pounds,  and  of  the  whole  ma- 
chine 4,890  pounds,  boxed  for  shipment.  Every  part  of  the 
mechanism  usually  fits  and  works  with  the  exactness  of  a 
gun-lock,  as  each  piece  is  carefully  made  to  gauge. 

Portable  engines  are  those  which  are  especially  intended 
to  be  moved  conveniently  from  place  to  place.  The  engine 
is  usually  attached  to  the  boiler,  and  the  feed-pump  is  gen- 
erally attached  to  the  engine.  The  whole  machine  is  car- 
ried on  wheels,  and  is  moved  from  one  place  to  another, 
usually  by  horses,  but  sometimes  by  its  own  engine,  which 
is  coupled  by  an  engaging  and  disengaging  apparatus  to 
the  rear-wheels.  English  builders  have  usually  excelled  in 
the  construction  of  this  class  of  steam-engine,  although  it  is 
probable  that  the  best  American  engines  are  fully  equal  to 
them  in  design,  material,  and  construction. 

The  later  work  of  the  best-known  English  builders  has 
given  economical  results  that  have  surprised  engineers. 
The  annual  "  shows "  of  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society 
have  elicited  good  evidence  of  skill  in  management  as  well 
as  of  excellence  of  design  and  construction.  Some  little 
portable  engines  have  exhibited  an  economical  efficiency 
superior  to  that  of  the  largest  marine  engines  of  any  but 
the  compound  type,  and  even  closely  competing  with  that 
form.  The  causes  of  this  remarkable  economy  are  readily 


PORTABLE   AND    LOCOMOTIVE   ENGINES.  351 

learned  by  an  inspection  of  these  engines,  and  by  observa- 
tion of  the  method  of  managing  them  at  the  test-trial. 
The  engines  are  usually  very  carefully  designed.  The  cyl- 
inders are  nicely  proportioned  to  their  work,  and  their  pis- 
tons travel  at  high  speed.  Their  valve-gear  consists  usually 
of  a  plain  slide-valve,  supplemented  by  a  separate  expan- 
sion-slide, driven  by  an  independent  eccentric,  and  capable 
of  considerable  variation  in  the  point  of  cut-off.  This  form 
of  expansion-gear  is  very  effective — almost  as  much  so  as  a 
drop  cut-off — at  the  usual  grade  of  expansion,  which  is  not 
far  from  four  times.  The  governor  is  usually  attached  to  a 
throttle-valve  in  the  steam-pipe,  an  arrangement  which  is 
not  the  best  possible  under  variable  loads,  but  which  pro- 
duces no  serious  loss  of  efficiency  when  the  engine  is  driven, 
as  at  competitive  trials,  under  the  very  uniform  load  of  a 
Prony  strap-brake  and  at  very  nearly  the  maximum  capaci- 
ty of  the  machine.  The  most  successful  engines  have  had 
steam-jacketed  cylinders  —  always  an  essential  to  maxi- 
mum economy — with  high  steam  and  a  considerable  expan- 
sion. The  boilers  are  strongly  made,  and  are,  as  are  also 
all  other  heated  surfaces,  carefully  clothed  with  non-con- 
ducting material,  and  well  lagged  over  all.  The  details 
are  carefully  proportioned,  the  rods  and  frames  are  strong 
and  well  secured  together,  and  the  bearings  have  large  rub- 
bing-surfaces. The  connecting-rods  are  long  and  easy- 
working,  and  every  part  is  capable  of  doing  its  work  with- 
out straining  and  with  the  least  friction. 

In  handling  the  engines  at  the  competitive  trial,  most 
experienced  and  skillful  drivers  are  selected.  The  difference 
between  the  performances  of  the  same  engine  in  different 
hands  has  been  found  to  amount  to  from  10  to  15  per  cent., 
even  where  the  competitors  were  both  considered  excep- 
tionally skillful  men.  In  manipulating  the  engine,  the  fires 
are  attended  to  with  the  utmost  care  ;  coal  is  thrown  upon 
them  at  regular  and  frequent  intervals,  and  a  uniform  depth 
of  fuel  and  a  perfectly  clean  fire  are  secured.  The  sides 


352 


THE  STEAM-ENGINE   OF   TO-DAY. 


and  corners  of  the  fire  are  looked  after  with  especial  care. 
The  fire-doors  are  kept  open  the  least  possible  time  ;  not  a 
square  inch  of  grate-surface  is  left  unutilized,  and  every 
pound  of  coal  gives  out  its  maximum  of  calorific  power,  and 
in  precisely  the  place  where  it  is  needed.  Feed-water  is 
supplied  as  nearly  as  possible  continuously,  and  with  the 
utmost  regularity.  In  some  cases  the  engine-driver  stands 
by  his  engine  constantly,  feeding  the  fire  with  coal  in  hand- 
fuls,  and  supplying  the  water  to  the  heater  by  hand  by 
means  of  a  cup.  Heaters  are  invariably  used  in  such  cases. 
The  exhaust  is  contracted  no  more  than  is  absolutely  neces- 
sary for  draught.  The  brake  is  watched  carefully,  lest 
irregularity  of  lubrication  should  cause  oscillation  of  speed 
with  the  changing  resistance.  The  load  is  made  the  maxi- 
mum which  the  engine  is  designed  to  drive  with  economy. 
Thus  all  conditions  are  made  as  favorable  as  possible  to 
economy,  and  they  are  preserved  as  invariable  as  the  utmost 
care  on  the  part  of  the  attendant  can  make  them. 

These  trials  are  usually  of  only  three  or  five  hours'  dura- 
tion, and  thus  terminate  before  it  becomes  necessary  to 
clean  fires.  The  following  are  results  obtained  at  the  trial 
of  engines  which  took  place  in  July,  1870,  at  the  Oxford 
Agricultural  Fair : 


CYLINDERS. 

HORSE-POW- 

1 

8 

£ 

Ja  c 

MAKERS'  NAME  AND 

•g 

< 

s. 

rf 

EESIDENCE. 

1 

1 

i 

i* 

1 

1 

0 

1 

1 

I 

* 

1 
I 

11 

H 

i 

oo 

& 

1 

i 

3 

2 

Inches. 

In. 

Clayton,  Shuttleworth 

&  Co.,  Lincoln  .... 

] 

7 

12 

4 

4.42 

121.65 

3.73 

Brown  &  May,Devizes 

1 

73-16 

12 

4 

4.19 

11.48 

125.65 

4.44 

Reading   Iron-Works 
Company,  Reading 

1 

53-4 

11 

4 

4.16 

145.7 

4.65 

PORTABLE   AND   LOCOMOTIVE   ENGINES. 


353 


These  were  horizontal  engines,  attached  to  locomotive 
boilers. 

At  a  similar  exhibition  held  at  Bury,  in  1867,  considera- 
bly better  results  even  than  these  were  reported,  as  below, 
from  engines  of  similar  size  and  styles  : 


CYLINDERS. 

IIOF8E-POW- 
EB. 

2 

| 

o  f* 

MAKERS'  NAME  AND 
RESIDENCE. 

j 

| 

te' 

I 

it 

1     1 

1 

"3 

g 

« 

1 

It 

fc          R 

yi 

fc 

fi 

* 

K 

* 

Inches. 

In. 

Clayton,  Shuttleworth 

&  Co.,  Lincoln  

1        10 

'20 

10 

11.00 

3.10 

71.5 

4.13 

Reading   Iron-Works 

Company,  Reading. 

1          85-8 

20 

10 

10.43 

1.4 

109.4 

4.22 

With  all  these  engines  steam-jackets  were  used  ;  the 
feed-water  was  highly  and  uniformly  heated  by  exhaust- 
steam  ;  the  coal  was  selected,  finely  broken,  and  thrown  on 
the  fire  with  the  greatest  care  ;  the  velocity  of  the  en- 
gines, the  steam-pressure,  and  the  amount  of  feed-water, 
were  very  carefully  regulated,  and  all  bearings  were  run 
quite  loose  ;  the  engine-drivers  were  usually  expert  "  jock- 
eys." 

The  next  illustration  represents  the  portable  steam-en- 
gine as  built  by  one  of  the  oldest  and  most  experienced 
manufacturers  of  such  engines  in  the  United  States. 

In  the  boilers  of  these  engines  the  heating-surface  is 
given  less  extent  than  in  the  stationary  engine-boiler,  but 
much  greater  than  in  the  locomotive,  and  varies  from  10  to 
20  square  feet  per  horse-power.  The  boilers  are  made  very 
strong,  to  enable  them  to  withstand  the  strains  due  to  the 
attached  engine,  which  are  estimated  as  equivalent  to  from 
one-tenth  to  one-fifth  that  due  to  the  steam-pressure.  The 


354 


TIIE   STEAM-ENGINE   OF   TO-DAY. 


boiler  is  sometimes  given  even  double  the  strength  usual 
with  stationary  boilers  of  similar  capacity.  The  engine  is 
mounted,  in  this  example,  directly  over  the  boiler,  and  all 
parts  are  in  sight  and  readily  accessible  to  the  engineer. 


One  of  these  engines,  of  20  horse-power,  has  a  steam- 
cylinder  10  inches  in  diameter  and  18  inches  stroke  of  pis- 


PORTABLE   AND   LOCOMOTIVE   ENGINES. 


355 


ton,  making  125  revolutions  per  minute,  and  has  9  square 
feet  of  grate-surface  and  288  feet  of  heating-surface.  It 
weighs  about  4£  tons.  Steam  is  carried  at  125  pounds. 

In  the  class  of  engines  just  described,  the  draught  is 
obtained  by  the  blast  of  the  exhaust-steam  which  is  led 
into  the  chimney.  Such  engines  are  now  sold  at  from  $120 
to  $150  per  horse-power,  according  to  size  and  quality,  the 
smaller  engines  costing  most.  The  usual  consumption  of 


FIG.  117. -The  Thrashers'  Road-Engine,  1878. 

fuel  is  from  4  to  6  pounds  per  hour  and  per  horse-power, 
burning  from  15  to  20  pounds  on  each  square  foot  of  grate, 
and  each  pound  evaporating  about  8  pounds  of  water.  A 
usual  weight  is,  for  the  larger  sizes,  500  pounds  per  horse- 
power. 

These  engines  are  sometimes  arranged  to  propel  them- 


356  THE   STEAM-ENGINE   OF  TO-DAY. 

selves,  as  in  the  Mills  "  Thrashers' "  road-engine  or  locomo- 
tive, of  which  the  accompanying  engraving  is  a  good  repre- 
sentation. This  engine  is  proportioned  for  hauling  a  tank 
containing  10  barrels,  or  more,  of  water  and  a  grain-sepa- 
rator over  all  ordinary  roads,  and  to  drive  a  thrashing-ma- 
chine or  saw-mill,  developing  20  or  25  horse-power.  This 
example  of  the  road-engine  has  a  boiler  built  to  work  at 
250  pounds  of  steam  ;  the  engine  is  designed  for  a  maximum 
power  of  30  horses. 

This  engine  has  a  balanced  valve  and  automatic  cut-off, 
and  is  fitted  with  a  reversing-gear  for  use  on  the  road. 
The  driving-wheels  are  of  wrought-iron,  56  inches  diameter 
and  8  inches  wide,  with  cast-iron  driving-arms.  Both 
wheels  are  drivers  on  curves  as  well  as  on  straight  lines. 
The  engine  is  guided  and  fired  by  one  man,  and  the  total 
weight  is  so  small  that  it  will  pass  safely  over  any  good 
country  bridge.  A  brake  is  attached,  to  insure  safety  when 
going  down-hill.  Although  designed  to  move  at  a  speed 
of  about  three  miles  per  hour,  the  velocity  of  the  piston 
may  be  increased  so  that  four  miles  per  hour  may  be  accom- 
plished when  necessary. 


FIG.  118.— Fisher's  Steam-Carriage. 


This  is  an  excellent  example  of  this  kind  of  engine  as 
constructed  at  the  present  time.  The  strongly-built  boiler, 
with  its  heater,  the  jacketed  cylinder,  and  light,  strong 
frame  of  the  engine,  the  steel  running-gear,  the  carefully- 


PORTABLE   AND   LOCOMOTIVE    ENGINES.  357 

covered  surfaces  of  cylinder  and  boiler,  and  excellent  pro- 
portions of  details,  are  illustrations  of  good  modern  engi- 
neering, and  are  in  curious  contrast  with  the  first  of  the 
class,  built  a  century  earlier  by  Smeaton. 

Steam-carriages  for  passengers  are  now  rarely  built. 
Fig.  118  represents  that  designed  by  Fisher  about  1870 
or  earlier.  It  was  only  worked  experimentally. 


FIG.  119.— Road  and  Farm  Locomotive. 

The  above  is  an  engraving  of  a  road  and  farm  locomo- 
tive as  built  by  one  of  the  most  successful  among  several 
British  firms  engaged  in  this  work. 

The  capacity  of  these  engines  has  been  determined  by 
experiment  by  the  author  in  the  United  States,  and  abroad 
by  several  distinguished  engineers. 

The  author  made  a  trial  of  one  of  these  engines  at  South 
Orange,  N.  J.,  to  determine  its  power,  speed,  and  conve- 
nience of  working  and  manoeuvring.  The  following  were 
the  principal  dimensions  : 


358  THE   STEAM-ENGINE   OF  TO-DAY.       • 

Weight  of  engine,  complete,  5  tons  4  cwt 11,648  pounds. 

Steam-cjiinder— diameter 7|  inches. 

Stroke  of  piston 10  inches. 

Revolution  of  crank  to  one  of  driving-wheels 17 

Driving-wheels — diameter 60  inches. 

"               breadth  of  tire 10  inches. 

"               weight,  each 460  pounds. 

Boiler— length  over  all 8  feet. 

"        diameter  of  shell 30  feet. 

"        thickness  of  shell  •&  inch. 

"        fire-box  sheets,  outside,  thickness ^  inch. 

Load  on  driving-wheels,  4  tons  10  cwt 10,080  pounds. 

The  boiler  was  of  the  ordinary  locomotive  type,  and 
the  engine  was  mounted  upon  it,  as  is  usual  with  portable 
engines. 

The  steam-cylinder  was  steam-jacketed,  in  accordance 
with  the  most  advanced  practice  here  and  abroad.  The 
crank-shaft  and  other  wrought-iron  parts  subjected  to  heavy 
strains  were  strong  and  plainly  finished.  The  gearing  was 
of  malleableized  cast-iron,  and  all  bearings,  from  crank- 
shaft to  driving-wheel,  on  each  side,  were  carried  by  a  sin- 
gle sheet  of  half -inch  plate,  which  also  formed  the  sides  of 
the  fire-box  exterior. 

The  following  is  a  summary  of  the  conclusions  deduced 
by  the  author  from  the  trial,  and  published  in  the  Journal 
of  the  Franklin  Institute:  A  traction-engine  may  be  so 
constructed  as  to  be  easily  and  rapidly  manoeuvred  on  the 
common  road  ;  and  an  engine  weighing  over  5  tons  may  be 
turned  continuously  without  difficulty  on  a  circle  of  18  feet 
radius,  or  even  on  a  road  but  little  wider  than  the  length 
of  the  engine.  A  locomotive  of  5  tons  4  hundred-weight 
has  been  constructed,  capable  of  drawing  on  a  good  road 
23,000  pounds  up  a  grade  of  533  feet  to  the  mile,  at  the  rate 
of  four  miles  an  hour  ;  and  one  might  be  constructed  to 
draw  more  than  63,000  pounds  up  a  grade  of  225  feet  to 
the  mile,  at  the  rate  of  two  miles  an  hour. 

It  was  further  shown  that  the  coefficient   of   traction 


PORTABLE  AND   LOCOMOTIVE   ENGINES.  359 

with  heavily-laden  wagons  on  a  good  macadamized  road 
is  not  far  from  .04  ;  the  traction-power  of  this  engine  is 
equal  to  that  of  20  horses  ;  the  weight,  exclusive  of  the 
weight  of  the  engine,  that  could  be  drawn  on  a  level  road, 
was  163,452  pounds  ;  and  the  amount  of  fuel  required  is 
estimated  at  500  pounds  a  day.  The  advantages  claimed 
for  the  traction-engine  over  horse-power  are  :  no  necessity 
for  a  limitation  of  working-hours  ;  a  difference  in  first  cost 
in  favor  of  steam  ;  and  in  heavy  work  qn  a  common  road 
the  expense  by  steam  is  less  than  25  per  cent,  of  the  average 
cost  of  horse-power,  a  traction-engine  capable  of  doing  the 
work  of  25  horses  being  worked  at  as  little  expense  as  6  or 
8  horses.  The  cost  of  hauling  heavy  loads  has  been  esti- 
mated at  7  cents  per  ton  per  mile. 

Such  engines  are  gradually  becoming  useful  in  steam- 
ploughing.  Two  systems  are  adopted.  In  the  one  the  en- 
gine is  stationary,  and  hauls  a  "  gang  "  of  ploughs  by  means 
of  a  windlass  and  wire  rope  ;  in  the  other  the  engine  trav- 
erses a  field,  drawing  behind  it  a  plough  or  a  gang  of 
ploughs.  The  latter  method  has  been  proposed  for  break- 
ing up  prairie-land. 

Thus,  thirty  years  after  the  defeat  of  the  intelligent, 
courageous,  and  persistent  Hancock  and  his  coworkers  in 
the  scheme  of  applying  the  steam-engine  usefully  on  the 
common  road,  we  find  strong  indications  that,  in  a  new 
form,  the  problem  has  been  again  attacked,  and  at  least 
partially  solved. 

One  of  the  most  important  of  the  prerequisites  to  ulti- 
mate success  in  the  substitution  of  steam  for  animal  power 
on  the  highway  is  that  our  roads  shall  be  well  made.  As 
the  greatest  care  and  judgment  are  exercised,  and  an  im- 
mense outlay  of  capital  is  considered  justifiable,  in  securing 
easy  grades  and  a  smooth  track  on  our  railroad  routes,  we 
may  readily  believe  that  similar  precaution  and  outlay  will 
be  found  advisable  in  adapting  the  common  road  to  the 
road-locomotive.  It  would  seem  to  the  engineer  that  the 
IT 


360  THE  STEAM-EXGINE  OF  TO-DAY. 

natural  obstacles  generally  supposed  to  stand  in  the  way 
have,  after  all,  no  real  existence.  The  principal  inconve- 
nience that  may  be  anticipated  will  probably  arise  from  the 
carelessness  or  avarice  of  proprietors,  which  may  sometimes 
cause  them  to  appoint  ignorant  and  inefficient  engine-driv- 
ers, giving  them  charge  of  what  are  always  excellent  ser- 
vants, but  terrible  masters.  Nevertheless,  as  the  transpor- 
tation of  passengers  on  railroads  is  found  to  be  attended 
with  less  liability  to  loss  of  life  or  injury  of  person  than 
their  carriage  by  stage-coach,  it  will  be  found,  very  proba- 
bly, that  the  general  use  of  steam  in  transporting  freight 
on  common  roads  may  be  attended  with  less  risk  to  life  or 
property  than  to-day  attends  the  use  of  horse-power. 

The  STEAM  FIRE-ENGINE  is  still  another  form  of  porta- 
ble engine.  It  is  also  one  of  the  latest  of  all  applications  of 
steam-power.  The  steam  fire-engine  is  peculiarly  an  Amer- 
ican production.  Although  previously  attempted,  their 
permanently  successful  introduction  has  only  occurred  with- 
in the  last  fifteen  years. 

As  early  as  1830,  Braithwaite  and  Ericsson,  of  London, 
England,  built  an  engine  with  steam  and  pump  cylinders  of 
7  and  6£  inches  diameter,  respectively,  with  16  inches  stroke 
of  piston.  This  machine  weighed  2|-  tons,  and  is  said  to  have 
thrown  150  gallons  of  water  per  minute  to  a  height  of  be- 
tween 80  and  100  feet.  It  was  ready  for  work  in  about  20 
minutes  after  lighting  the  fire.  Braithwaite  afterward  sup- 
plied a  more  powerful  engine  to  the  King  of  Prussia,  in 
1832.  The  first  attempt  made  in  the  United  States  to  con- 
struct a  steam  fire-engine  was  probably  that  of  Hodge,  who 
built  one  in  New  York  in  1841.  It  was  a  strong  and  very  ef- 
fective machine,  but  was  far  too  heavy  for  rapid  transporta- 
tion. The  late  J.  K.  Fisher,  who  throughout  his  life  persist- 
ently urged  the  use  of  steam-carriages  and  traction-engines, 
designing  and  building  several,  also  planned  a  steam  fire- 
engine.  Two  were  built  from  his  design  by  the  Novelty 
Works,  New  York,  about  1860,  for  Messrs.  Lee  '&  Lamed, 


PORTABLE   AND    LOCOMOTIVE   ENGINES. 


361 


They  were  "  self-propellers,"  and  one  of  them,  built  for  the 
city  of  Philadelphia,  was  sent  to  that  city  over  the  highway, 
driven  by  its  own  engines.  The  other  was  built  for  and  used 


by  the  New  York  Fire  Department,  and  did  good  service  for 
several  years.  These  engines  were  heavy,  but  very  power- 
ful, and  were  found  to  move  at  good  speed  under  steam 


362  THE   STEAM-ENGINE   OF  TO-DAY. 

and  to  manoeuvre  well.  The  Messrs.  Latta,  of  Cincinnati, 
soon  after  succeeded  in  constructing  comparatively  light 
and  very  effective  engines,  and  the  fire  department  of  that 
city  was  the  first  to  adopt  steam  fire-engines  definitely  as 
their  principal  reliance.  This  change  has  now  become  gen- 
eral. 

The  steam  fire-engine  has  now  entirely  displaced  the  old 
hand-engine  in  all  large  cities.  It  does  its  work  at  a  frac- 
tion of  the  cost  of  the  latter.  It  can  force  its  water  to  a 
height  of  225  feet,  and  to  a  distance  of  more  than  300  feet 
horizontally,  while  the  hand-engine  can  seldom  throw  it 
one-third  these  distances  ;  and  the  "  steamer  "  may  be  relied 
upon  to  work  at  full  power  many  hours  if  necessary,  while 
the  men  at  the  hand-engine  soon  become  fatigued,  and  re- 
quire frequent  relief.  The  city  of  New  York  has  40  steam 
fire-engines.  One  engine  to  every  10,000  inhabitants  is  a 
proper  proportion. 

In  the  standard  steam  fire-engine  (Fig.  120)  reciprocat- 
ing engines  and  pumps  are  adopted,  as  seen  in  section  in 
Fig.  121,  in  which  A  is  the  furnace,  and  7?  the  set  of  close- 
ly-set vertical  fire-tubes  in  the  boiler.  C  is  the  combus- 
tion-chamber, D  the  smoke-pipe,  and  R  the  steam-space. 
E  is  the  steam-cylinder,  and  F  the  pump,  which  is  seen  to 
be  double-acting.  There  are  two  pairs  of  engines  and 
pumps,  working  on  cranks,  set  at  right  angles,  and  turning 
a  balance-wheel  seen  behind  them.  G-  is  the  feed-pump 
which  supplies  water  to  the  boiler,  H  the  air-chamber  which 
equalizes  the  water-pressure,  which  reaches  it  through  the 
pipe,  IJ.  K  is  the  feed-water  tank,  under  the  driver's 
seat,  L,  which,  with  the  engines  and  boiler,  are  carried  on 
the  frame,  MM.  The  fireman  stands  on  the  platform,  N~. 
When  it  is  necessary  to  move  the  machine,  an  endless 
chain  connects  the  crank-shaft  with  the  rear-wheels,  and 
the  engine,  with  pumps  shut  off,  is  thus  made  to  drive  the 
wheels  at  any  desired  speed. 

A  self-propelling   engine  by  the  Amoskeag   Company 


PORTABLE  AND  LOCOMOTIVE  ENGINES. 


363 


had  the  following  dimensions  and  performance  :  Weight,  4 
tons  ;  speed,  8  miles  per  hour  ;  steam-pressure,  75  pounds 
per  square  inch  ;  height  of  stream  from  l^-inch  nozzle,  225 
feet ;  If-inch  nozzle,  150  feet ;  distance  horizontally,  1^- 


364 


TUE   STEAM-ENGINE   OF   TO-DAY. 


PORTABLE   AND   LOCOMOTIVE   ENGINES.  365 

inch  nozzle,  300  feet ;  If-inch,  250  feet — a  performance 
which  contrasts  wonderfully  with  that  of  the  hand-worked 
lire-engine  which  these  engines  have  now  superseded. 

It  has  recently  become  common  to  construct  the  steam 
fire-engine  with  rotary  engine  and  pump  (Fig.  122).  The 
superiority  of  a  rotary  motion  for  a  steam-engine  is  appar- 
ently so  evident  that  many  attempts  have  been  made  to 
overcome  the  practical  difficulties  to  which  it  is  subject. 
One  of  these  difficulties,  and  the  principal  one,  has  been  the 
packing  of  the  part  which  performs  the  office  of  the  piston 
in  the  straight  cylinder.  Robert  Stephenson  once  expressed 
the  opinion  that  a  rotary  engine  would  never  be  made  to 
work  successfully,  on  account  of  this  difficulty  of  packing. 
The  most  palpable  of  the  advantages  of  the  rotary  engine 
are  the  reduction  in  the  size  of  the  engine,  claimed  to  re- 
sult from  the  great  velocity  of  the  piston  ;  the  avoidance 
of  great  accidental  strains,  especially  noticed  in  propelling 
ships  ;  and  a  great  saving  of  the  power  which  is  asserted  to 
be  expended  in  the  reciprocating  engine  in  overcoming  the 
inertia  while  changing  the  direction  of  the  motions.  These 
advantages  adapt  the  rotary  engine,  in  an  especial  manner, 
to  the  driving  of  a  locomotive  or  steam  fire-engine. 


Engine. 


In  the  Holly  rotary  engine,  seen  in  Fig.  123,  eccentrics 
and  sliding-cams,  which  are  frequently  used  in  rotary  en- 


366  THE  STEAM-ENGINE   OF   TO-DAY. 

gines,  and  which  are  objectionable  on  account  of  their  great 
friction,  are  avoided.  Corrugated  pistons,  or  irregular 
cams,  CD,  are  adopted,  forming  chambers  within  the  cases. 
In  the  engine  the  steam  enters  at  A,  at  the  bottom  of  the 
case,  and  presses  the  cams  apart.  The  only  packing  used 
is  in  the  ends  of  the  long  metal  cogs,  which  are  ground  to 
fit  the  case  and  are  kept  out  by  the  momentum  of  the  cams, 
assisted  by  a  slight  spring  back  of  the  packing-pieces.  The 
friction  on  the  pump  (Fig.  124)  is  said  to  be  less  than  in 


FIG.  124.— Rotary  Pump. 

the  engine.  This  is  the  reason  given  in  support  of  the 
claim  that  the  rotary  engine  forces  water  to  a  given  dis- 
tance with  from  one-fourth  to  one-third  the  steam-pressure 
necessary  to  drive  all  reciprocating  engines.  The  smaller 
amount  of  power  necessary  to  do  the  work,  the  less  strain 
and  consequent  wear  and  tear  upon  the  whole  machine,  are 
said  to  make  it  more  durable  and  reliable.  The  pump  being 
chambered,  its  liability  to  injury  by  the  use  of  dirty  or 
gritty  water  is  lessened,  and  it  is  stated  that  it  will  last  for 
years,  pumping  gritty  water  that  would  soon  cut  out  a  piston- 
pump.  The  pump  used  with  this  engine  is,  as  shown  in  the 
above  illustration,  somewhat  similar  to  the  rotary  engine 
driving  it.  Each  of  the  revolving  pistons  has  three  long 
teeth  bearing  against  the  cylinder,  and  packed,  to  prevent 
leakage,  like  the  engine-cams.  They  are  carried  on  steel 


PORTABLE   AND   LOCOMOTIVE   ENGINES.  367 

shafts  coupled  to  the  engine-shafts.  The  water  enters  at 
E  and  is  discharged  at  F,  and  the  passages  are  purposely 
made  large  in  order  that  sand,  chips,  and  dirt,  which  may 
enter  with  the  water,  may  pass  through. 

The  rotary  engine  is  gradually  coming  into  use  for  va- 
rious special  purposes,  where  small  power  is  called  for,  and 
where  economy  of  fuel  is  not  important ;  but  it  has  never 
yet  competed,  and  may  perhaps  never  in  the  future  compete, 
with  the  reciprocating-piston  engine  where  large  engines 
are  required,  or  where  even  moderate  economy  of  fuel  is 
essential.  This  form  of  engine  has  assumed  so  little  im- 
portance, in  fact,  in  the  application  of  the  steam-engine, 
that  comparatively  little  is  known  of  its  history.  Watt  in- 
vented a  rotary  engine,  and  Yule  many  years  afterward 
(183G)  constructed  such  engines  at  Glasgow.  Lamb  pat- 
ented another  in  1842,  Behrens  still  another  in  1847.  Na- 
pier, Hall,  Massey,  Holly,  La  France,  and  others,  have 
built  engines  of  this  class  in  later  times.  Nearly  all  con- 
sist either  of  cams  rotating  in  gear,  as  in  those  above 
sketched,  or  of  a  piston  set  radially  in  a  cylinder  of  small 
diameter,  which  turns  on  its  axis  within  a  much  larger  cyl- 
inder set  eccentrically,  the  piston,  as  the  former  turns,  slid- 
ing in  and  out  of  the  smaller  cylinder  as  its  outer  edge 
slides  in  contact  with  the  inner  surface  of  the  larger.  In 
some  forms  of  rotary  engine,  a  piston  revolves  on  a  central 
shaft,  and  a  sliding  abutment  in  the  external  cylinder  serves, 
to  separate  the  steam  from  the  exhaust  side  and  to  confine 
the  steam  expanding  while  doing  work.  Nearly  all  of 
these  combinations  are  also  used  as  pumps. 

Fire-engines,  made  by  the  best-known  American  build- 
ers of  engines,  with  reciprocating  engines  and  pumps,  such 
as  are  in  general  use  in  the  United  States,  have  become 
standard  in  general  plan  and  arrangement  of  details.  These 
are  probably  the  best  illustrations  of  extreme  lightness, 
combined  with  strength  of  parts  and  working  power,  which 
have  ever  been  produced  in  any  branch  of  mechanical  en- 


368  THE   STEAM-ENGINE   OF   TO-DAY. 

gineering.  By  using  a  small  boiler  crowded  with  heat- 
ing-surface, very  carefully  proportioned  and  arranged,  and 
with  small  water-spaces  ;  by  adopting  steel  for  running- 
gear  and  working  parts  wherever  possible  ;  by  working  at 
high  piston-speed  and  with  high  steam-pressure  ;  by  select- 
ing fuel  with  extreme  care — by  all  these  expedients,  the 
steam  fire-engine  has  been  brought,  in  this  country,  to  a 
state  of  efficiency  far  superior  to  anything  seen  elsewhere. 
Steam  is  raised  with  wonderful  promptness,  even  from  cold 
water,  and  water  is  thrown  from  the  nozzle  at  the  end  of 
long  lines  of  hose  to  great  distances.  But  this  combination 
of  lightness  with  power  is  only  attained  at  the  expense  of 
a  certain  regularity  of  action  which  can  only  be  secured  by 
greater  water  and  steam  capacity  in  the  boiler.  The  small 
quantity  of  water  contained  within  the  boiler  makes  it  ne- 
cessary to  give  constant  attention  to  the  feed,  and  the  ten- 
dency, almost  invariably  observed,  to  serious  foaming  and 
priming  not  only  compels  unintermitted  care  while  running, 
but  even  introduces  an  element  of  danger  which  is  not  to 
be  despised,  even  though  the  machine  be  in  charge  of  the 
most  experienced  and  skillful  attendants.  Even  the  greatest 
care,  directed  by  the  utmost  skill,  would  not  avail  to  pre- 
vent frequent  explosions,  were  it  not  for  the  fact  that  it  rare- 
ly, if  ever,  happens  that  accidents  to  such  boilers  occur  from 
low  water,  unless  the  boiler  is  actually  completely  emptied 
of  water.  In  driving  them  at  fires,  they  frequently  foam  so 
violently  that  it  is  utterly  impossible  to  obtain  any  clew  to 
the  amount  of  water  present,  and  the  attendant  usually 
keeps  his  feed-pump  on  and  allows  the  foaming  to  go  on. 
As  long  as  water  is  passing  into  the  boiler  it  is  very  unlikely 
that  any  portion  will  become  overheated  and  that  accident 
will  occur.  Such  management  appears  very  reckless,  and 
yet  accident  from  such  a  cause  is  exceedingly  rare. 

The  changes  which  have  been  made  in  LOCOMOTIVE- 
CONSTRUCTION  during  the  past  few  years  have  also  been  in 
the  direction  of  the  refinement  of  the  earlier  designs,  and 


PORTABLE    AND   LOCOMOTIVE   ENGINES.  369 

have  been  accompanied  by  corresponding  changes  in  all 
branches  of  railroad- work.  The  adjustment  of  parts  to 
each  other  and  proportioning  them  to  their  work,  the 
modification  of  the  minor  details  to  suit  changes  of  gen- 
eral dimensions,  the  improvement  of  workmanship,  and  the 
use  of  better  material,  have  signalized  this  latest  period. 
Special  forms  of  engine  have  been  devised  for  special 
kinds  of  work.  Small,  light  tank-engines  (Fig.  125),  car- 


FIG.  125.— Tank -Engine,  New  York  Elevated  Railroad. 

rying  their  own  fuel  and  water  without  "  tenders,"  are  used 
for  moving  cars  about  terminal  stations  and  for  making  up 
trains  ;  powerful,  heavy,  slow-moving  engines,  of  large 
boiler-capacity  and  with  small  wheels,  are  used  on  steep 
gradients  and  for  hauling  long  trains  laden  with  coal  and 
heavy  merchandise  ;  and  hardly  less  powerful  but  quite 
differently  proportioned  "  express  "-engines  are  used  for 
passenger  and  mail  service. 

A  peculiar  fonn  of  engine  (Fig.  126)  has  been  designed 
by  Forney,  in  which  the  whole  weight  of  engine,  tender, 
coal,  and  w^ater,  is  carried  by  one  frame  and  on  one  set  of 
wheels,  the  permanent  weight  falling  on  the  driving-wheels 
and  the  variable  load  on  the  truck.  These  engines  have  also 
a  comparatively  short  wheel-base  and  high  pulling-power. 
The  lightest  tank-engines  of  the  first  class  mentioned 
weigh  8  or  10  tons  ;  but  engines  much  lighter  than  these, 


370 


THE   STEAM-ENGINE   OF   TO-DAY. 


even,  are  built  for  mines,  where  they  are  sent  into  the  gal- 
leries to  bring  out  the  coal-laden  wagons.  The  heaviest 
engines  of  this  class  attain  weights  of  20  or  30  tons.  The 


heaviest  engine  yet  constructed  in  the  United  States  is  said 
to  be  one  in  use  on  the  Philadelphia  &  Reading  Railroad, 


PORTABLE   AND   LOCOMOTIVE    ENGINES. 


371 


having  a  weight  of  about  100,000  pounds,  which  is  carried 
on  12  driving-wheels. 

A  locomotive  has  two  steam-cylinders,  either  side  by 
side  within  the  frame,  and  immediately  beneath  the  forward 
end  of  the  boiler,  or  on  each  side  and  exterior  to  the  frame. 
The  engines  are  non-condensing,  and  of  the  simplest  possible 
construction.  The  whole  machine  is  carried  upon  strong  but 
flexible  steel  springs.  The  steam-pressure  is  usually  more 
than  100  pounds.  The  pulling-power  is  generally  about  one- 
fifth  the  weight  under  most  favorable  conditions,  and  be- 
comes as  low  as  one-tenth  on  wet  rails.  The  fuel  employed 
is  wood  in  new  countries,  coke  in  bituminous  coal  districts, 
and  anthracite  coal  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  United  States. 
The  general  arrangement  and  the  proportions  of  locomotives 
differ  somewhat  in  different  localities.  In  Fig.  127,  a  Brit- 


Fir,.  127.— British  Express  Engine. 

ish  express-engine,  0  is  the  boiler,  JV"  the  fire-box,  IK  the 
grate,  G  the  smoke-box,  and  P  the  chimney.  8  is  a  spring 
and  n  a  lever  safety-valve,  T  is  the  whistle,  L  the  throttle 
or  regulator  valve,  E  the  steam-cylinder,  and  W  the  driv- 
ing-wheel. The  force-pump,  B  C,  is  driven  from  the  cross- 
head,  D.  The  frame  is  the  base  of  the  whole  system,  and 
all  other  parts  are  firmly  secured  to  it.  The  boiler  is  made 
fast  at  one  end,  and  provision  is  made  for  its  expansion 
when  heated.  Adhesion  is  secured  by  throwing  a  proper 


372 


THE   STEAM-ENGINE   OF   TO-DAY. 


proportion  of  the  weight  upon  the  driving-wheel,  W.    This 
is  from  about  6,000  pounds  on  standard  freight-engines, 


PORTABLE   AND   LOCOMOTIVE   ENGINES.  373 

having  several  pairs  of  drivers,  to  10,000  pounds  on  passen- 
ger-engines, per  axle.  The  peculiarities  of  the  American 
type  (Fig.  128)  are  the  truck,  IJ,  or  bogie,  supporting  the 
forward  part  of  the  engine,  the  system  of  equalizers,  or 
beams  which  distribute  the  weight  of  the  machine  equally 
over  the  several  axles,  and  minor  differences  of  detail.  The 
cab  or  house,  r,  protecting  the  engine-driver  and  fireman,  is 
an  American  device,  which  is  gradually  coming  into  use 
abroad  also.  The  American  locomotive  is  distinguished  by 
its  flexibility  and  ease  of  action  upon  even  roughly-laid 
roads.  In  the  sketch,  which  shows  a  standard  American 
engine  in  section,  A  B  is  the  boiler,  C  one  of  the  steam- 
cylinders,  D  the  piston,  E  the  cross-head,  connected  to  the 
crank-shaft,  F,  by  the  connecting-rod,  G  H  the  driving- 
wheels,  IJ  the  truck-wheels,  carrying  the  truck,  KL; 
M  N  is  the  fire-box,  0  0  the  tubes,  of  which  but  four  are 
shown.  The  steam-pipe,  H  S,  leads  the  steam  to  the  valve- 
chest,  T,  in  which  is  seen  the  valve,  moved  by  the  valve- 
gear,  U  V,  and  the  link,  W.  The  link  is  raised  or  depressed 
by  a  lever,  X,  moved  from  the  cab.  The  safety-valve 
is  seen  at  the  top  of  the  dome,  at  Y,  and  the  spring-balance 
by  which  the  load  is  adjusted  is  shown  at  Z.  At  a  is  the 
cone-shaped  exhaust-pipe,  by  which  a  good  draught  is  se- 
cured. The  attachments  b,  c,  d,  e,  f,  g — whistle,  steam- 
gauge,  sand-box,  bell,  head-light,  and  "  cow-catcher  " — are 
nearly  all  peculiar,  either  in  construction  or  location,  to  the 
American  locomotive.  The  cost  of  passenger-locomotives 
of  ordinary  size  is  about  $12,000  ;  heavier  engines  some- 
times cost  $20,000.  The  locomotive  is  usually  furnished 
with  a  tender,  which  carries  its  fuel  and  water.  The  stand- 
ard passenger-engine  on  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  has  four 
driving-wheels,  5£  feet  diameter  ;  steam-cylinders,  17  inches 
diameter  and  2  feet  stroke  ;  grate-surface  15£  square  feet, 
and  heating-surface  1,058  square  feet.  It  weighs  63,100 
pounds,  of  which  39,000  pounds  are  on  the  drivers  and 
24,100  on  the  truck.  The  freight-engine  has  six  driving- 


374 


THE   STEAM-ENGINE   OF  TO-DAY. 


wheels,  54f  inches  in  diameter.  The  steam-cylinders  are 
18  inches  in  diameter,  stroke  22  inches,  grate-surface  14.8 
square  feet,  heating-surface  1,096  feet.  It  weighs  68,500 


pounds,  of  which  48,000  are  on  the  drivers  and  20,500  on 
the  truck.  The  former  takes  a  train  of  five  cars  up  an 
average  grade  of  90  feet  to  the  mile.  The  latter  is  attached 


PORTABLE   AND    LOCOMOTIVE   ENGINES.  375 

to  a  train  of  11  cars.  On  a  grade  of  50  feet  to  the  mile, 
the  former  takes  7  and  the  latter  17  cars.  Tank-engines 
for  very  heavy  work,  such  as  on  grades  of  320  feet  to  the 
mile,  which  are  found  on  some  of  the  mountain  lines  of 
road,  are  made  with  five  pairs  of  driving-wheels,  and  with 
no  truck.  The  steam-cylinders  are  20£  inches  in  diameter, 
2  feet  stroke  ;  grate-area,  15f  feet ;  heating-surface,  1,380 
feet ;  weight  with  tank  full,  and  full  supply  of  wood, 
112,000  pounds  ;  average  weight,  108,000  pounds.  Such 
an  engine  has  hauled  110  tons  up  this  grade  at  the  speed 
of  5  miles  an  hour,  the  steam-pressure  being  145  pounds. 
The  adhesion  was  about  23  per  cent,  of  the  weight. 

In  checking  a  train  in  motion,  the  inertia  of  the  engine 
itself  absorbs  a  seriously  large  portion  of  the  work  of  the 
brakes.  This  is  sometimes  reduced  by  reversing  the  engine 
and  allowing  the  steam-pressure  to  act  in  aid  of  the  brakes. 
To  avoid  injury  by  abrasion  of  the  surfaces  of  piston,  cyl- 
inder, and  the  valves  and  valve-seats,  M.  Le  Chatelier  in- 
troduces a  jet  of  steam  into  the  exhaust-passages  when 
reversing,  and  thus  prevents  the  ingress  of  dust-laden  air 
and  the  drying  of  the  rubbing  surfaces.  This  method  of 
checking  a  train  is  rarely  resorted  to,  however,  except  in 
case  of  danger.  The  introduction  of  the  "  continuous  "  or 
"  air  "  brake,  which  can  be  thrown  into  action  in  an  instant 
on  every  car  of  the  train  by  the  engine-driver,  is  so  efficient 
that  it  is  now  almost  universally  adopted.  It  is  one  of  the 
most  important  safeguards  which  American  ingenuity  has 
yet  devised.  In  drawing  a  train  weighing  150  tons  at  the 
rate  of  60  miles  an  hour,  about  800  effective  horse-power  is 
required.  A  speed  of  80  miles  an  hour  has  been  often 
attained,  and  100  miles  has  probably  been  reached. 

The  American  locomotive-engine  has  a  maximum  life 
which  may  be  stated  at  about  30  years.  The  annual  cost 
of  repairs  is  from  10  to  15  per  cent,  of  its  first  cost.  On 
moderately  level  roads,  the  engine  requires  a  pint  of  oil  to 
each  25  miles,  and  a  ton  of  coal  to  each  40  or  50  miles  run. 


376  THE   STEAM-ENGINE   OF   TO-DAY. 

One  of  the  best-managed  railroads  in  the  United  States  re- 
ports expenses  as  follows  for  one  month  : 

Number  "  train-miles  "  run  per  ton  of  coal  burned 53.95 

"  "  "     "     quart  of  oil  used 34.44 

Passenger-cars  hauled  1  mile  per  ton  of  coal 275.7 

Other  "         "         "  "  "     634.8 

Cost  repairs  per  mile  run $243 

"fuel  "  "    364 

"    oil  and  waste  per  mile  run 62 

"    wages  of  engine-men  per  mile  run 6  22 

All  other  expenses  per  square  mile 1  91 

Total  cost  per  "  train-mile  "  run 14  82 

Although  the  above  sketch  and  description  represent 
the  construction  and  performance  of  the  standard  locomo- 
tive of  the  present  time,  there  are  indications  that  the  com- 
pound arrangement  of  engines  will  ultimately  be  adopted. 
This  will  involve  a  considerable  change  of  proportions, 
greatly  increasing  the  volume  and  weight  of  steam-cyl- 
inders, but  enabling  the  designer  to  more  than  propor- 
tionally decrease  the  weight  of  boiler  and  the  quantity  of 
fuel  carried.  There  is  no  serious  objection  to  their  use, 
however,  and  no  insuperable  difficulty  in  the  construction 
of  the  "double-cylinder"  type  of  engine  for  the  locomo- 
tive. A  few  such  engines  have  already  been  put  in  ser- 
vice. In  these  engines  the  high-pressure  cylinder  is  placed 
on  one  side  and  the  larger  low-pressure  cylinder  on  the  other 
side  of  the  locomotive,  thus  having  but  two  cylinders,  as  in 
the  older  plan.  The  valve-gear  is  the  Stephenson  link,  as 
in  the  ordinary  engine.  At  starting,  the  steam  is  allowed 
to  act  on  both  pistons  ;  but  after  a  few  revolutions  the 
course  of  the  steam  is  changed,  and  the  exhaust  from  the 
smaller  cylinder,  instead  of  passing  into  the  chimney,  is 
sent  to  the  larger  cylinder,  which  is  at  the  same  time 
cut  off  from  the  main  steam-pipe.  When  the  engine  is 
ascending  a  steep  gradient  the  steam  may,  if  necessary,  be 
taken  from  the  boiler  into  both  cylinders,  as  when  starting. 


POKTABLE    AND    LOCOMOTIVE   ENGINES. 


377 


Compound  engines  of  this  kind  have  been  used  on  the 
French  line  of  railroad  from  Bayonne  to  Biarritz.  They 
were  designed  by  Mallet  and  built  at  Le  Creuzot.  The 
steam-cylinders  are  of  9£  and  15  J  inches  diameter,  and  of 
17f  inches  stroke  of  piston.  The  four  driving-wheels  are 
4  feet  in  diameter,  and  the  total  weight  of  engine  is  20 
tons.  The  boiler  has  484£  square  feet  of  heating-surface, 
and  is  built  to  carry  10  atmospheres  pressure.  When  haul- 
ing trains  of  50  tons  at  25  miles  an  hour,  these  engines  re- 
quire about  15  pounds  of  good  coal  per  mile. 

The  total  length  of  the  railways  in  operation  in  the 
United  States  on  the  1st  day  of  January,  1877,  was  76,640 
miles,1  being  an  average  of  one  mile  of  railway  for  every 
600  inhabitants.  The  railways  are  as  follows  : 


Alabama  

Miles. 
1,722 

Kentucky  

Miles. 
1,464 

Ohio  

Miles. 
.   4,680 

Alaska 

o 

539 

Oregon.  . 

251 

o 

Maine  

987 

Pennsylvania  . 

5,896 

Arkansas  
California  
Colorado  
Connecticut  
Dakota  
Delaware  
Florida 

787 
1,854 
950 
925 
290 
285 
484 

Maryland  
Massachusetts.  . 
Michigan  
Minnesota.  .  .  . 
Mississippi  .  .  . 
Missouri  
Montana  

1,092 
1,825 
3,437 
2,024 
1,028 
3,016 
0 

Rhode  Island. 
South  Carolina 
Tennessee  .... 
Texas  
Utah  
Vermont  
Virginia  

182 
1,352 
1,638 
2,072 
486 
810 
1,648 

Georgia  
Idaho 

2,308 

o 

Nebraska  
Nevada  . 

1,181 
714 

Washington.  . 
West  Virginia 

110 
576 

Illinois  

6,980 

New  Hampshire 

942 

Wisconsin  

2,575 

Indiana  

4,072 

New  Jersey  

1,594 

Wyoming  .... 

459 

3  037 

New  York 

5  520 

Total 

.76  640 

Kansas  

3,226 

North  Carolina  . 

1,371 

In  1873  came  the  great  financial  crisis,  with  its  terrible 
results  of  interrupted  production,  poverty,  and  starvation, 
and  an  almost  total  cessation  of  the  work  of  building  new 
railroads.  The  largest  number  of  miles  ever  built  in  any 
one  year  were  constructed  in  1872.  The  greatest  mile- 
age is  in  Illinois,  reaching  6,589  ;  the  smallest  in  Rhode 
Island,  136,  and  in  Washington  Territory,  110.  The 
State  of  Massachusetts  has  one  mile  of  railroad  to  4.86 
1  January,  1884,  over  120,000  miles. 


378 


THE   STEAM-ENGINE   OF   TO-DAY. 


miles  of  territory,  this  ratio  being  the  greatest  in  the  coun- 
try. The  longest  road  in  operation  is  the  Chicago  &  North- 
western, extending  1,500  miles  ;  the  shortest,  the  Little 
Saw-Mill  Run  Road  in  Pennsylvania,  which  is  but  three 
miles  in  length.  The  total  capital  of  railways  in  the  coun- 
try is  $6,000,000,000,  or  an  average  of  $100,000  per  mile. 
The  earnings  for  the  year  1872  amounted  to  $454,969,000, 
or  $7,500  per  mile.  The  largest  net  earnings  recorded  as 
made  on  any  road  were  gained  by  the  New  York  Central 
&  Hudson  River,  $8,260,827 ;  the  smallest  on  several 
roads  which  not  only  earned  nothing,  but  incurred  a  loss. 

The  catastrophe  of  1873-'74  revealed  the  fact  that  the 
latter  condition  of  railroad  finances  was  vastly  more  com- 
mon than  had  been  suspected ;  and  it  is  still  doubtful 
whether  the  existing  immense  network  of  railroads  which 
covers  the  United  States  can  be  made,  as  a  whole,  to  pay 
even  a  moderate  return  on  the  money  invested  in  their  con- 
struction. At  the  period  of  maximum  rate  of  extension  of 
railroads  in  the  United  States — 1873 — the  reported  lengths 
of  the  railroads  of  Europe  and  America  were  as  follows  : ' 

RAILROADS  IN  EUROPE  AND  AMERICA  IN  1873. 


COUNTRIES. 

Railroads, 
Miles. 

Population. 

Area, 
Sq.  Miles. 

United  States 

71,565 

40,232  000 

2,492,316 

12,207 

40,111,265 

212,091 

Austria                         

5,865 

35,943,592 

227,234 

France 

10333 

36469  875 

201  900 

7,044 

71,207794 

1,992,574 

Great  Britain  1872 

15,814 

31,817,108 

120,769 

Belgium.         

1,301 

4,839,094 

11,412 

Netherlands  
Switzerland 

886 
820 

3,858,055 
2,669,095 

13,464 
15,233 

Italy 

3,667 

26,273,776 

107,961 

Denmark             

420 

1,784,741 

14,453 

Spain  
Portugal 

3,401 
453 

16,301,850 
3,987,867 

182,758 
36,510 

1,049 

5,860,122 

188,771 

Greece           .             

100 

1,332,508 

'    19,941 

1  Railroad  Gazette. 


MARINE   ENGINES.  379 

The  railroads  in  Great  Britain  comprise  over  15,000  miles 
of  track  now  being  worked  in  the  United  Kingdom,  on  which 
have  been  expended  $2,800,000,000.  This  sum  is  equal  to  five 
times  the  amount  of  the  annual  value  of  all  the  real  prop- 
erty in  Great  Britain,  and  two-thirds  of  the  national  debt. 
After  deducting  all  the  working  expenses,  the  gross  net 
annual  revenue  of  all  the  roads  exceeds  by  $110,000,000  the 
total  revenue  from  all  sources  of  Belgium,  Holland,  Portu- 
gal, Denmark,  Sweden  and  Norway.  An  army  of  100,000 
officers  and  servants  is  in  the  employ  of  the  companies, 
and  the  value  of  the  rolling-stock  exceeds  $150,000,000. 

SECTION  III. — MARINE  ENGINES. 

The  changes  which  have  now  become  completed  in  the 
marine  steam-engine  have  been  effected  at  a  later  date  than 
those  which  produced  the  modern  locomotive.  On  the 
American  rivers  the  modification  of  the  beam-engine  since 
the  time  of  Robert  L.  Stevens  has  been  very  slight.  The 
same  general  arrangement  is  retained,  and  the  details  are 
little,  if  at  all,  altered.  The  pressure  of  steam  is  sometimes 
as  high  as  60  pounds  per  square  inch. 

The  valves  are  of  the  disk  or  poppet  variety,  rising  and 
falling  vertically.  They  are  four  in  number,  two  steam 
and  two  exhaust  valves  being  placed  at  each  end  of  the 
steam-cylinder.  The  beam-engine  is  a  peculiarly  American 
type,  seldom  if  ever  seen  abroad.  Fig.  130  is  an  outline 
sketch  of  this  engine  as  built  for  a  steamer  plying  on  the 
Hudson  River.  This  class  of  engine  is  usually  adopted  in 
vessels  of  great  length,  light  draught,  and  high  speed. 
But  one  steam-cylinder  is  commonly  used.  The  cross-head 
is  coupled  to  one  end  of  the  beam  by  means  of  a  pair  of 
links,  and  the  motion  of  the  opposite  end  of  the  beam  is 
transmitted  to  the  crank  by  a  connecting-rod  of  moderate 
length.  The  beam  has  a  cast-iron  centre  surrounded  by  a 
wrought-iron  strap  of  lozenge  shape,  in  which  are  forged 


380 


THE  STEAM-ENGINE   OF  TO-DAY. 


the  bosses  for  the  end-centres,  or  for  the  pins  to  which  the 
connecting-rod  and  the  links  are  attached.  The  main  cen- 
tre of  the  beam  is  supported  by  a  "  gallows-frame  "  of  tim- 
bers so  arranged  as  to  receive  all  stresses  longitudinally. 


FIG.  130. — Beam-Engine. 

The  crank  and  shaft  are  of  wrought-iron.  The  valve-gear 
is  usually  of  the  form  already  mentioned  as  the  Stevens 
valve-gear,  the  invention  of  Robert  L.  and  Francis  B.  Ste- 
vens. The  condenser  is  placed  immediately  beneath  the 


MARINE    ENGINES. 


381 


steam-cylinder.  The  air-pump  is  placed  close  beside  it,  and 
worked  by  a  rod  attached  to  the  beam.  Steam-vessels  on 
the  Hudson  River  have  been  driven  by  such  engines  at  the 
rate  of  20  miles  an  hour.  This  form  of  engine  is  remark- 
able for  its  smoothness  of  operation,  its  economy  and  dura- 
bility, its  compactness,  and  the  latitude  which  it  permits  in 
the  change  of  shape  of  the  long,  flexible  vessels  in  which  it 
is  generally  used,  without  injury  by  "  getting  out  of  line." 
For  paddle-engines  of  large  vessels,  the  favorite  type, 


Fio.  131.— Oscillating  Engine  and  Feathering  Paddle- Wheel. 

which  has  been  the  side-lever  engine,  is  now  rarely  built.  For 
smaller  vessels,  the  oscillating  engine  with  feathering  pad- 
dle-wheels is  still  largely  employed  in  Europe.  This  style 
of  engine  is  shown  in  Fig.  131.  It  is  very  compact,  light, 
and  moderately  economical,  and  excels  in  simplicity.  The 
usual  arrangement  is  such  that  the  feathering-wheel  has  the 
same  action  upon  the  water  as  a  radial  wheel  of  double 
diameter.  This  reduction  of  the  diameter  of  the  wheel, 
while  retaining  maximum  effectiveness,  permits  a  high 
speed  of  engine,  and  therefore  less  weight,  volume,  and 
cost.  The  smaller  wheel-boxes,  by  offering  less  resistance 
to  the  wind,  retard  the  progress  of  the  vessel  less  than  those 


382  THE   STEAM-ENGINE   OF  TO-DAY. 

of  radial  wheels.  Inclined  engines  are  sometimes  used  for 
driving  paddle-wheels.  In  these  the  steam-cylinder  lies  in 
an  inclined  position,  and  its  connecting-rod  directly  con- 
nects the  crank  with  the  cross-head.  The  condenser  and 
air-pump  usually  lie  beneath  the  cross-head  guides,  and  are 
worked  by  a  bell-crank  driven  by  links  on  each  side  the 
connecting-rod,  attached  to  the  cross-head.  Such  engines 
are  used  to  some  extent  in  Europe,  and  they  have  been 
adopted  in  the  United  States  navy  for  side-wheel  gunboats. 
They  are  also  used  on  the  ferry-boats  plying  between  New 
York  and  Brooklyn. 

Among  the  finest  illustrations  of  recent  practice  in  the 
construction  of  side-wheel  steamers  are  those  built  for  the 
several  routes  between  New  York  and  the  cities  of  New 
England  which  traverse  Long  Island  Sound.  Our  illustra- 
tion exhibits  the  form  of  these  vessels,  and  also  shows  well 
the  modifications  in  structure  and  size  which  have  been 
made  during  this  generation.  The  later  vessel  is  325  feet 
long,  45  feet  beam,  80  feet  wide  over  the  "guards,"  and  16 
feet  deep,  drawing  10  feet  of  water.  The  "  frames  "  upon 
which  the  planking  of  the  hull  is  fastened  are  of  white-oak, 
and  the  lighter  and  "top"  timbers  of  cedar  and  locust. 
The  engine  has  a  steam-cylinder  90  inches  in  diameter  and 
12  feet  stroke  of  piston.1  On  each  side  the  great  saloons 
which  extend  from  end  to  end  of  the  upper  deck  are  state- 
rooms, containing  each  two  berths  and  elegantly  furnished. 
The  engine  of  this  vessel  is  capable  of  developing  about 
2,500  horse-power.  The  great  wheels,  of  which  the  paddle- 
boxes  are  seen  rising  nearly  to  the  height  of  the  hurricane- 
deck,  are  37£  feet  in  diameter  and  12  in  breadth.  The  hull 
of  this  vessel,  including  all  wood- work,  weighs  over  1,200 
tons.  The  weight  of  the  machinery  is  about  625  tons. 
The  steamer  makes  16  knots  an  hour  when  the  engine  is  at 
its  best  speed — about  IT  revolutions  per  minute — and  its 

1  The  steam-cylinders  of  the  engines  of  steamers  Bristol  and  Providence 
are  110  inches  in  diameter  and  of  12  feet  stroke. 


MARINE   ENGINES. 


383 


average  speed  is  about  14  knots  on  its  route  of  160  miles. 
The  coal  required  to  supply  the  furnaces  of  such  a  vessel 
and  with  such  machinery  would  be  about  3  tons  per  hour. 


384  THE   STEAM-ENGINE   OF   TO-DAY. 

or  a  little  over  2£  pounds  per  horse-power.  The  construc- 
tion of  such  a  vessel  occupies,  usually,  about  a  year,  and 
costs  a  quarter  of  a  million  dollars. 

The  non-condensing  direct-acting  engine  is  used  princi- 
pally on  the  Western  rivers,  driven  by  steam  of  from  100 
to  150  pounds  pressure,  and  exhausts  its  steam  into  the  at- 
mosphere. It  is  the  simplest  possible  form  of  direct-acting 
engine.  The  valves  are  usually  of  the  "  poppet "  variety, 
and  are  operated  by  cams  which  act  at  the  ends  of  long 

.-=--    .. 


FIG.  133.— A  Mississippi  Steamboat. 

levers  having  their  fulcra  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  valve, 
the  stem  of  which  latter  is  attached  at  an  intermediate 
point.  The  engine  is  horizontal,  and  the  connecting-rod 
directly  attached  to  cross-head  and  crank-pin  without  inter- 
mediate mechanism.  The  paddle-wheel  is  used,  sometimes 
as  a  stern- wheel,  as  in  the  plan  of  Jonathan  Hulls  of  one  and 


MARINE   ENGINES.  385 

a  half  century  ago,  sometimes  as  a  side-wheel,  as  is  most 
usual  elsewhere.  One  of  the  most  noted  of  these  steamers, 
plying  on  the  Mississippi,  is  shown  in  the  preceding  sketch. 

One  of  the  largest  of  these  steamers  was  the  Grand. 
Republic,1  a  vessel  340  feet  long,  56  feet  beam,  and  10J  feet 
depth.  The  draught  of  water  of  this  great  craft  was  3£ 
feet  forward  and  4J  aft.  The  two  sets  of  compound  engines, 
28  and  56  inches  diameter  and  of  10  feet  stroke,  drive 
wheels  38£  feet  in  diameter  and  18  feet  wide.  The  boilers 
were  steel.  A  steamer  built  still  later  on  the  Ohio  has  the 
following  dimensions  :  Length,  225  feet ;  breadth,  35£  feet ; 
depth,  5  feet ;  cylinders,  ITf  inches  in  diameter,  6  feet 
stroke  ;  three  boilers.  The  hull  and  cabin  were  built  at 
Jeffersonville,  Ind.  She  has  40  large  state-rooms.  The 
cost  of  the  steamer  was  $40,000. 

These  vessels  have  now  opened  to  commerce  the  whole 
extent  of  the  great  Mississippi  basin,  transporting  a  large 
share  of  the  products  of  a  section  of  country  measuring  a 
million  and  a  half  square  miles — an  area  equal  to  many 
times  that  of  New  York  State,  and  twelve  times  that  of 
the  island  of  Great  Britain — an  area  exceeding  that  of  the 
whole  of  Europe,  exclusive  of  Russia  and  Turkey,  and  capa- 
ble, if  as  thoroughly  cultivated  as  the  Netherlands,  of  sup- 
porting a  population  of  between  three  and  four  hundred 
millions  of  people. 

The  steam-engine  and  propelling  apparatus  of  the  mod- 
ern ocean-steamer  have  now  become  almost  exclusively  the 
compound  or  double-cylinder  engine,  driving  the  screw. 
The  form  and  the  location  of  the  machinery  in  the  vessel 
vary  with  the  size  and  character  of  the  ship  which  it  drives. 
Very  small  boats  are  fitted  with  machinery  of  quite  a  dif- 
ferent kind  from  that  built  for  large  steamers,  and  war- 
vessels  have  usually  been  supplied  with  engines  of  a  design 
radically  different  from  that  adopted  for  merchant -steamers. 

The  introduction  of  Steam-Launches  and  small  pleasure- 
1  Burned  in  1877. 


386  THE   STEAM-ENGINE   OF   TO-DAir. 

boats  driven  by  steam-power  is  of  comparatively  recent 
date,  but  their  use  is  rapidly  increasing.  Those  first  built 
were  heavy,  slow,  and  complicated ;  but,  profiting  by  ex- 


perience, light  and  graceful  boats  are  now  built,  of  remark- 
able swiftness,  and  having  such  improved  and  simplified 
machinery  that  they  require  little  fuel  and  can  be  easily 


MARINE    ENGINES. 


387 


managed.  Such  boats  have  strong,  carefully-modeled  hulls, 
light  and  strong  boilers,  capable  of  making  a  large  amount 
of  dry  steam  with  little  fuel,  and  a  light,  quick-running  en- 


FIG.  ISS.-Launch-Engine. 

gine,  working  without  shake  or  jar,  and  using  steam  eco- 
nomically. 

The  above  sketch  represents  the  engine  built  by  a  New 
York  firm  for  such  little  craft.  This  is  the  smallest  size 
made  for  the  market.  It  has  a  steam-cylinder  3  inches  in 
diameter  and  a  stroke  of  piston  of  5  inches,  driving  a  screw 
26  inches  in  diameter  and  of  3  feet  pitch.  The  maximum 


388  THE  STEAM-ENGINE  OF  TO-DAY. 

power  of  the  engine  is  four  or  five  times  the  nominal  power. 
The  boiler  is  of  the  form  shown  in  the  illustrations  of  semi- 
portable  engines,  and  has  a  heating-surface,  in  this  case, 
of  75  square  feet.  The  boat  itself  is  like  that  seen  on  page 
386,  and  is  25  feet  long,  of  5  feet  8  inches  beam,  and  draws 
2£  feet  of  water.  These  little  machines  weigh  about  150 
pounds  per  nominal  horse-power,  and  the  boilers  about  300. 

Some  of  these  little  vessels  have  attained  wonderful 
speed.  A  British  steam-yacht,  the  Miranda,  45£  feet  in 
length,  5f  feet  wide,  and  drawing  2^  feet  of  water,  with  a 
total  weight  of  3f  tons,  has  steamed  nearly  18£  miles  an 
hour  for  short  runs.  The  boat  was  driven  by  an  engine  of 
6  inches  diameter  of  cylinder  and  8  inches  stroke  of  piston, 
making  600  revolutions  per  minute,  driving  a  two-bladed 
screw  2 1  feet  in  diameter  and  of  3£  feet  pitch.  Its  ma- 
chinery had  a  total  weight  of  two  tons.  Another  English 
yacht,  the  Firefly,  is  said  to  have  made  18.94  miles  an  hour. 
A  little  French  yacht,  the  Hirondelle,  has  attained  a  speed 
of  16  knots,  equal  to  about  18£  miles,  an  hour.  This  was, 
however,  a  much  larger  vessel  than  the  preceding.  One  of 
the  most  remarkable  of  these  little  steamers  is  a  torpedo- 
boat  built  for  the  United  States  navy.  This  vessel  is  60 
feet  long,  6  feet  wide,  and  5  feet  deep ;  its  screw  is  38 
inches  in  diameter  and  of  5  feet  pitch,  two-bladed,  and  is 
driven,  by  a  very  light  engine  and  boiler,  400  revolutions 
per  minute,  the  boat  attaining  a  speed  of  19  to  20  miles  an 
hour.  Another  little  vessel,  the  Vision,  made  nearly  as 
great  speed,  developing  20  horse-power  with  engine  and 
boiler  weighing  but  about  400  pounds. 

Yachts  of  high  speed  require  such  weight  and  bulk  of 
engine  that  but  little  space  is  left  for  cabins,  and  they  are 
usually  exceedingly  uncomfortable  vessels.  In  the  Miranda 
the  weight  of  machinery  is  more  than  one-half  the  total 
weight  of  the  whole.  An  illustration  of  the  more  com- 
fortable and  more  generally  liked  pleasure-yacht  is  the  Day 
Dream.  The  length  is  105  feet,  and  the  boat  draws  5£ 


MARINE   ENGINES.  389 

feet  of  water.  There  are  two  engines,  having  steam-cylin- 
ders 14  inches  in  diameter  and  of  the  same  length  of  stroke, 
direct-acting,  condensing,  and  driving  a  screw,  of  7  feet 
diameter  and  of  10|  feet  pitch,  135  revolutions  a  minute, 
giving  the  yacht  a  speed  of  13£  knots  an  hour. 

In  larger  vessels,  as  in  yachts,  in  nearly  all  cases,  the 
ordinary  screw-engine  is  direct-acting.  Two  engines  are 
placed  side  by  side,  with  cranks  on  the  shaft  at  an  an- 
gle of  90°  with  each  other.  In  merchant-steamers  the 
steam-cylinders  are  usually  vertical  and  directly  over  the 
crank-pins,  to  which  the  cross-heads  are  coupled.  The  con- 
denser is  placed  behind  the  engine-frame,  or,  where  a  jet- 
condenser  is  used,  the  frame  itself  is  sometimes  made  hol- 
low, and  serves  as  a  condenser.  The  air-pump  is  worked  by 
a  beam  connected  by  links  with  the  cross-head.  The  gen- 
eral arrangement  is  like  that  shown  in  Figs.  137  and  138. 
For  naval  purposes  such  a  form  is  objectionable,  since  its 
height  is  so  great  that  it  would  be  exposed  to  injury  by 


FIG.  136.— Horizontal,  Direct-acting  Naval  Screw-Engine. 

shot.  In  naval  engineering  the  cylinder  is  placed  horizon- 
tally, as  in  Fig.  136,  which  is  a  sectional  view,  representing 
an  horizontal,  direct-acting  naval  screw-engine,  with  jet- 
condenser  and  double-acting  air  and  circulating  pumps.  A 
is  the  steam-cylinder,  JB  the  piston,  which  is  connected  to 
the  crank-pin  by  the  piston-rod,  J),  and  connecting-rod,  E. 


390 


THE   STEAM-ENGINE   OF  TO-DAY. 


F  is  the  cross-head  guide.  The  eccentrics,  6r,  operate  the 
valve,  which  is  of  the  "  three-ported  variety,"  by  a  Stephen- 
son  link.  Reversing  is  effected  by  the  hand-wheel,  (7, 
which,  by  means  of  a  gear,  m,  and  a  rack,  k,  elevates  and 
depresses  the  link,  and  thus  reverses  the  valve. 

The  trunk-engine,  in  which  the  connecting-rod  is  at- 


FIG.  IST.-Compound  Marine  Engine.    Side  Elevation. 

tached  directly  to  the  piston  and  vibrates  within  a  trunk  or 
cylinder  secured  to  the  piston,  moving  with  it,  and  extend- 
ing outside  the  cylinder,  like  an  immense  hollow  piston- 
rod,  is  frequently  used  in  the  British  navy.  It  has  rarely 
been  adopted  in  the  United  States. 


MARINE   ENGINES. 


391 


In  nearly  all  steam-vessels  which  have  been  built  for 
the  merchant  service  recently,  and  in  some  naval  vessels, 
the  compound  engine  has  been  adopted.  Figs.  137  and  138 
represent  the  usual  form  of  this  engine.  Here  A.  A.,  J3  JB 
are  the  small  and  the  large,  or  the  high-pressure  and  the 
low-pressure  cylinders  respectively.  C  O  are  the  valve- 


FIG.  13$.— Compound  Marine  Engine.    Front  Elevation  and  Section. 

chests.  G  G  is  the  condenser,  which  is  invariably  a  sur- 
face-condenser. The  condensing  water  is  sometimes  di- 
rected around  the  tubes  contained  within  the  casing,  G  G, 
while  the  steam  is  exhausted  around  them  and  among  them, 


392  THE   STEAM-ENGINE   OF   TO-DAY. 

and  sometimes  the  steam  is  condensed  within  the  tubes, 
while  the  injection-water  which  is  sent  into  the  condenser 
to  produce  condensation  passes  around  the  exterior  of  the 
tubes.  In  either  case,  the  tubes  are  usually  of  small  diam- 
eter, varying  from  five-eighths  to  half  an  inch,  and  in  length 
from  four  to  seven  feet.  The  extent  of  heating-surface  is 
usually  from  one-half  to  three-fourths  that  of  the  heating- 
surface  of  the  boilers. 

The  air  and  circulating  pumps  are  placed  on  the  lower 
part  of  the  condenser-casting,  and  are  operated  by  a  crank 
on  the  main  shaft  at  N;  or  they  are  sometimes  placed  as 
in  the  style  of  engine  last  described,  and  driven  by  a  beam 
worked  by  the  cross-head.  The  piston-rods,  T S,  are  guided 
by  the  cross-heads,  V  V,  working  in  slipper-guides,  and  to 
these  cross-heads  are  attached  the  connecting-rods,  X  X> 
driving  the  cranks,  MM.  The  cranks  are  now  usually  set 
at  right  angles  ;  in  some  engines  this  angle  is  increased  to 
120°,  or  even  180°.  Where  it  is  arranged  as  here  shown, 
an  intermediate  reservoir,  P  O,  is  placed  between  the  two 
cylinders  to  prevent  the  excessive  variations  of  pressure 
that  would  otherwise  accompany  the  varying  relative  mo- 
tions of  the  pistons,  as  the  steam  passes  from  the  high- 
pressure  to  the  low-pressure  cylinder.  Steam  from  the 
boilers  enters  the  high-pressure  steam-chest,  X,  and  is  ad- 
mitted by  the  steam-valve  alternately  above  and  below  the 
piston  as  usual.  The  exhaust  steam  is  conducted  through 
the  exhaust  passage  around  into  the  reservoir,  P,  whence  it 
it  is  taken  by  the  low-pressure  cylinder,  precisely  as  the 
smaller  cylinder  drew  its  steam  from  the  boiler.  From  the 
large  or  low-pressure  cylinder  the  steam  is  exhausted  into 
the  condenser.  The  valve-gear  is  usually  a  Stephenson 
link,  g  e,  the  position  of  which  is  determined,  and  the  re- 
versal of  which  is  accomplished,  by  a  hand-wheel,  o,  and 
screw,  m  np,  which,  by  the  bell-crank,  Jc  i,  are  attached  to 
the  link,  g  e.  The  "  box-framing  "  forms  also  the  hot-well. 
The  surface-condenser  is  cleared  by  a  single-acting  air- 


MARINE   ENGINES. 


393 


pump,  inside  the  frame,  at  T.    The  feed-pump  and  the  bilge- 
pumps  are  driven  from  the  cross-head  of  the  air-pump. 

The  successful  introduction  of  the  double-cylinder  en- 
gine was  finally  accomplished  by  the  exertions  of  a  few 
engineers,  who  were  at  once  intelligent  enough  to  under- 
stand its  advantages,  and  energetic  and  enterprising  enough 
to  push  it  forward  in  spite  of  active  opposition,  and  pow- 
erful enough,  pecuniarily  and  in  influence,  to  succeed. 


The  most  active  and  earnest  of  these  eminent  men  was 
John  Elder,  of  the  firm  of  Randolph,  Elder  &  Co.,  subse- 
quently John  Elder  &  Co.,  of  Glasgow.1 

Elder  was  of  Scotch  descent.      His  ancestors  had,  for 


Vide  "  Memoir  of  John  Elder,"  W.  J.  M.  Rankinc,  Glasgow,  1871. 


394  THE   STEAM-ENGINE   OF  TO-DAY. 

generations,  shown  great  skill  and  talent  in  construction, 
and  had  always  been  known  as  successful  millwrights.  John 
Elder  was  born  at  Glasgow,  March  8,  1824,  and  died  in 
London,  September  17,  1869.  He  was  educated  at  the 
Glasgow  High-School  and  in  the  College  of  Engineering  at 
the  University  of  Glasgow,  where,  however,  his  attendance 
was  but  for  a  short  time.  He  learned  the  trade  under  his 
father  in  the  workshops  of  the  Messrs.  Napier,  and  became 
an  unusually  expert  draughtsman.  After  spending  three 
years  in  charge  of  the  drawing-office  at  the  engine-building 
works  of  Robert  Napier,  where  his  father  had  been  manager, 
Elder  became  a  partner  in  the  firm  which  had  previously 
been  known  as  Randolph,  Elliott  &  Co.,  in  the  year  1852. 
The  firm  commenced  building  iron  vessels  in  1860. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  experiments  of  Hornblower  and 
Wolff,  of  Allaire  and  Smith,  and  of  McNaught,  Craddock, 
and  Nicholson,  together  with  the  theoretical  investigations 
of  Thompson,  Rankine,  Clausius,  and  others,  had  shown 
plainly  in  what  direction  to  look  for  improvement  upon 
then  standard  engines,  and  what  direction  practice  was 
taking  with  all  types.  The  practical  deductions  which  were 
becoming  evident  were  recognized  very  early  by  Elder,  and 
he  promptly  began  to  put  in  practice  the  principles  which 
his  knowledge  of  thermo-dynamics  and  of  mechanics  ena- 
bled him  to  appreciate.  He  adopted  the  compound  engine, 
and  coupled  his  cranks  at  angles  of  180°,  in  order  to  avoid 
losses  due  to  the  friction  of  the  crank-shaft  in  its  bearings, 
by  effecting  a  partial  counterbalancing  of  pressures  on  the 
journals.  Elder  was  one  of  the  first  to  point  out  the  fact  that 
the  compound  engine  had  proved  itself  more  efficient  than 
the  single-cylinder  engine,  only  when  the  pressure  of  steam 
carried  and  the  extent  to  which  expansion  was  adopted  ex- 
ceeded the  customary  practice  of  his  time.  His  own  prac- 
tice was,  from  the  first,  successful,  and  from  1853  to  1867  he 
and  his  partners  were  continually  engaged  in  the  construc- 
tion of  steamers  and  fitting  them  with  compound  engines. 


MARINE   ENGINES.  395 

The  engines  of  their  first  vessel,  the  Brandon,  required 
but  3^  pounds  of  coal  per  hour  and  per  horse-power,  in 
1854,  when  the  usual  consumption  was  a  third  more.  Five 
years  later,  they  had  built  engines  which  consumed  a  third 
less  than  those  of  the  Brandon  ;  and  thenceforward,  for 
many  years,  their  engines,  when  of  large  size,  exhibited 
what  was  then  thought  remarkable  economy,  running  on  a 
consumption  of  from  2£  to  2£  pounds. 

In  the  year  1865  the  British  Government  ordered  a 
competitive  trial  of  three  naval  vessels,  which  only  dif- 
fered in  the  form  of  their  engines.  The  Arethusa  was 
fitted  with  trunk-engines  of  the  ordinary  kind  ;  the  Octavia 
had  three  steam-cylinders,  coupled  to  three  cranks  placed 
at  angles  of  120°  with  each  other  ;  and  the  Constance  was 
fitted  with  compound  engines,  two  sets  of  three  cylinders 
each,  and  each  taking  steam  from  the  boiler  into  one  cylin- 
der, passing  it  through  the  other  two  with  continuous  ex- 
pansion, and  finally  exhausting  from  the  third  into  the  con- 
denser. These  vessels,  during  one  week's  steaming  at  sea, 
averaged,  respectively,  3.64,  3.17,  and  2.51  pounds  of  coal 
per  hour  and  per  horse-power,  and  the  Constance  showed  a 
marked  superiority  in  the  efficiency  of  the  mechanism  of 
her  engines,  when  the  losses  by  friction  were  compared. 

The  change  from  the  side-lever  single-cylinder  engine, 
with  jet-condenser  and  paddle-wheels,  to  the  direct-acting 
compound  engine,  with  surface-condenser  and  screw-pro- 
pellers, has  occurred  within  the  memory  and  under  the  ob- 
servation of  even  young  engineers,  and  it  may  be  considered 
that  the  revolution  has  not  been  completely  effected.  This 
change  in  the  design  of  engine  is  not  as  great  as  it  at  first 
seemed  likely  to  become.  Builders  have  but  slowly  learned 
the  principles  stated  above  in  reference  to  expansion  in  one 
or  more  cylinders,  and  the  earlier  engines  were  made  with 
a  high  and  low  pressure  cylinder  working  on  the  same  con- 
necting-rod, and  each  machine  consisted  of  four  steam-cyl- 
inders. It  was  at  last  discovered  that  a  high-pressure  single- 


396  THE  STEAM-ENGINE   OF  TO-DAY. 

cylinder  engine  exhausting  into  a  separate  larger  low-press- 
ure engine  might  give  good  results,  and  the  compound 
engine  became  as  simple  as  the  type  of  engine  which  it 
displaced.  This  independence  of  high  and  low  pressure  en- 
gines is  not  in  itself  novel,  for  the  plan  of  using  the  exhaust 
of  a  high-pressure  engine  to  drive  a  low-pressure  condensing 
engine  was  one  of  the  earliest  of  known  combinations. 

The  advantage  of  introducing  double  engines  at  sea  is 
considerably  greater  than  on  land.  The  coal  carried  by  a 
steam-vessel  is  not  only  an  item  of  great  importance  in  con- 
sequence of  its  first  cost,  but,  displacing  its  weight  or  bulk 
of  freight  which  might  otherwise  be  carried,  it  represents  so 
much  non-paying  cargo,  and  is  to  be  charged  with  the  full 
cost  of  transportation  in  addition  to  first  cost.  The  best  of 
steam-coal  is  therefore  usually  chosen  for  steamers  making 
long  voyages,  and  the  necessity  of  obtaining  the  most  eco- 
nomical engines  is  at  once  seen,  and  is  fully  appreciated  by 
steamship  proprietors.  Again,  an  economy  of  one-fourth  of 
a  pound  per  horse-power  per  hour  gives,  on  a  large  trans- 
atlantic steamer,  a  saving  of  about  100  tons  of  coal  for  a 
single  voyage.  To  this  saving  of  cost  is  to  be  added  the 
gain  in  wages  and  sustenance  of  the  labor  required  to  han- 
dle that  coal,  and  the  gain  by  100  tons  of  freight  carried  in 
place  of  the  coal. 

For  many  years  the  change  which  has  here  been  out- 
lined, in  the  forms  of  engine  and  the  working  of  steam  ex- 
pansively, was  retarded  by  the  inefficiency  of  methods  and 
tools  used  in  construction.  With  gradual  improvement  in 
tools  and  in  methods  of  doing  work,  it  became  possible  to 
control  higher  steam  and  to  work  it  successfully  ;  and  the 
change  in  this  direction  has  been  steadily  going  on  up  to 
the  present  time  with  all  types  of  steam-engine.  At  sea 
this  rise  of  pressure  was  for  a  considerable  time  retarded 
by  the  serious  difficulty  encountered  in  the  tendency  of  the 
sulphate  of  lime  to  deposit  in  the  boiler.  When  steam- 
pressure  had  risen  to  25  pounds  per  square  inch,  it  was 


MARINE   ENGINES.  397 

found  that  no  amount  of  "  blowing  out "  would  prevent  the 
deposition  of  seriously  large  quantities  of  this  salt,  while  at 
the  lower  pressures  at  first  carried  at  sea  no  troublesome 
precipitation  occurred,  and  the  only  precaution  necessary 
was  to  blow  out  sufficient  brine  to  prevent  the  precipita- 
tion of  common  salt  from  a  supersaturated  solution.  The 
introduction  of  surface-condensation  was  promptly  at- 
tempted as  the  remedy  for  this  evil,  but  for  many  years 
it  was  extremely  doubtful  whether  its  disadvantages  were 
not  greater  than  its  advantages.  It  was  found  very  diffi- 
cult to  keep  the  condensers  tight,  and  boilers  were  injured 
by  some  singular  process  of  corrosion,  evidently  due  to  the 
presence  of  the  surface-condenser.  The  simple  expedient 
of  permitting  a  very  thin  scale  to  form  in  the  boiler  was, 
after  a  time,  hit  upon  as  a  means  of  overcoming  this  diffi- 
culty, and  thenceforward  the  greatest  obstacle  to  the  gen- 
eral introduction  was  the  conservative  disposition  found 
among  those  who  had  charge  of  marine  machinery,  which 
conservatism  regarded  with  suspicion  every  innovation. 
Another  trouble  arose  from  the  difficulty  of  finding  men 
neither  too  indolent  nor  too  ignorant  to  take  charge  of  the 
new  condenser,  which,  more  complicated  and  more  readily 
disarranged  than  the  old,  demanded  a  higher  class  of  at- 
tendants. Once  introduced,  however,  the  surface-condenser 
removed  the  obstacle  to  further  elevation  of  steam-pressure, 
and  the  rise  from  20  to  60  pounds  pressure  soon  occurred. 
Elder  and  his  competitors  on  the  Clyde  were  the  first  to 
take  advantage  of  the  fact  when  these  higher  pressures  be- 
came practicable. 

The  lightness  of  engine  and  the  smaller  weight  of  boiler 
secured  when  the  simpler  type  of  "  compound  "  engine  is 
used  are  great  advantages,  and,  when  coupled  with  the 
fact  that  by  no  other  satisfactory  device  can  great  expan- 
sion and  consequent  economy  of  fuel  be  obtained  at  sea, 
the  advantages  are  such  as  to  make  the  adoption  of  this 
style  of  engine  imperative  for  ship-propulsion. 


398  THE   STEAM-EXGINE   OF   TO-DAY. 

This  extreme  lightness  in  machinery  has  been  largely, 
also,  the  result  of  very  careful  and  skillful  designing,  of 
intelligent  construction,  and  of  care  in  the  selection  and 
use  of  material.  British  builders  had,  until  after  the  intro- 
duction of  these  later  types  of  vessels-of-war,  been  distin- 
guished rather  by  the  weight  of  their  machinery  than  for 
nice  calculation  and  proportioning  of  parts.  Now  the  en- 
gines of  the  heavy  iron-clads  are  models  of  good  propor- 
tions, excellence  in  materials,  and  of  workmanship,  which 
are  well  worthy  of  study.  The  weight  per  indicated  horse- 
power has  been  reduced  from  400  or  500  pounds  to  less 
than  half  that  amount  within  the  last  ten  years.  This  has 
been  accomplished  by  forcing  the  boilers — although  thus, 
to  some  extent,  losing  economy — by  higher  steam-pressure, 
a  very  much  higher  piston-speed,  reduction  of  friction  of 
parts,  reduction  of  capacity  for  coal-stowage,  and  exceed- 
ingly careful  proportioning.  The  reduction  of  coal-bunker 
capacity  is  largely  compensated  by  the  increase  of  economy 
secured  by  superheating,  by  increased  expansion,  elevation 
of  piston-speed,  and  the  introduction  of  surface-condensation. 

A  good  marine  steam-engine  of  the  form  which  was 
considered  standard  15  or  20  years  ago,  having  low-press- 
ure boilers  carrying  steam  at  20  or  25  pounds  pressure  as 
a  maximum,  expanding  twice  or  three  times,  and  having  a 
jet-condenser,  would  require  about  30  or  35  pounds  of  feed- 
water  per  horse-power  per  hour  ;  substituting  surface-con- 
densation for  that  produced  by  the  jet  brought  down  the 
weight  of  steam  used  to  from  25  to  30  pounds  ;  increasing 
steam-pressure  to  60  pounds,  expanding  from  five  to  eight 
times,  and  combining  the  special  advantages  of  the  super- 
heater and  the  compound  engine  with  surface-condensation, 
has  reduced  the  consumption  of  steam  to  20,  or  even,  in 
some  cases,  15  pounds  of  steam  per  horse-power  per  hour. 
Messrs.  Perkins,  of  London,  guarantee,  as  has  already 
been  stated,  to  furnish  engines  capable  of  giving  a  horse- 
power with  a  consumption  of  but  1£  pound  of  coal.  Mr. 


MARINE  ENGINES.  399 

C.  E.  Emery  reports  the  United  States  revenue-steamer 
Hassler,  designed  by  him,  to  have  given  an  ordinary  sea- 
going performance  which  is  probably  fully  equal  to  any- 
thing yet  accomplished.  The  Hassler  is  a  small  steamer,  of 
but -151  feet  in  length,  24£  feet  beam,  and  10  feet  draught. 
The  engines  have  steam-cylinders  18.1  and  28  inches  diam- 
eter, respectively,  and  of  28  inches  stroke  of  piston,  indicat- 
ing 125  horse-power ;  with  steam  at  75  pounds  pressure, 
and  at  a  speed  of  but  7  knots,  the  coal  consumed  was  but 
1.87  pound  per  horse-power  per  hour. 

The  committee  of  the  British  Admiralty  on  designs  of 
ships-of-war  have  reported  recently  :  "  The  carrying-power 
of  ships  may  certainly  be  to  some  extent  increased  by  the 
adoption  of  compound  engines  in  her  Majesty's  service. 
Its  use  has  recently  become  very  general  in  the  mercantile 
marine,  and  the  weight  of  evidence  in  favor  of  the  large 
economy  of  fuel  thereby  gained  is,  to  our  minds,  over- 
whelming and  conclusive.  We  therefore  beg  earnestly  to 
recommend  that  the  use  of  compound  engines  may  be  gen- 
erally adopted  in  ships-of-war  hereafter  to  be  constructed, 
and  applied,  whenever  it  can  be  done  with  due  regard  to 
economy  and  to  the  convenience  of  the  service,  to  those 
already  built." 

The  forms  of  screws  now  employed  are  exceedingly 
diverse,  but  those  in  common  use  are  not  numerous.  In 
naval  vessels  it  is  common  to  apply  screws  of  two  blades, 
that  they  may  be  hoisted  above  water  into  a  "  well "  when 
the  vessel  is  under  sail,  or  set  with  the  two  blades  directly 
behind  the  stern-post,  when  their  resistance  to  the  forward 
motion  of  the  vessel  will  be  comparatively  small.  In  other 
vessels,  and  in  the  greater  number  of  full-power  naval  ves- 
sels, screws  of  three  or  four  blades  are  used. 

The  usual  form  of  screw  (Fig.  139)  has  blades  of  nearly 
equal  breadth  from  the  hub  to  the  periphery,  or  slightly 
widening  toward  their  extremities,  as  is  seen  in  an  exagger- 
ated degree  in  Fig.  140,  representing  the  form  adopted  for 


400 


THE   STEAM-ENGINE   OF   TO-DAY. 


tug-boats,  where  large  surface  near  the  extremity  is  more 
generally  used  than  in  vessels  of  high  speed  running  free. 
In  the  Griffith  screw,  which  has  been  much  used,  the  hub 


FIG.  189.— Screw-Propeller. 

is  globular  and  very  large.  The  blades  are  secured  to  the 
hub  by  flanges,  and  are  bolted  on  in  such  a  manner  that 
their  position  may  be  changed  slightly  if  desired.  The 
blades  are  shaped  like  the  section  of  a  pear,  the  wider  part 
being  nearest  the  hub,  and  the  blades  tapering  rapidly 
toward  their  extremities.  A  usual  form  is  intermediate 
between  the  last,  and  is  like  that  shown  in  Fig.  141,  the 
hub  being  sufficiently  enlarged  to  permit  the  blades  to  be 
attached  as  in  the  Griffith  screw,  but  more  nearly  cylindri- 
cal, and  the  blades  having  nearly  uniform  width  from  end 
to  end. 


MARINE   ENGINES. 


401 


The  pitch  of  a  screw  is  the  distance  which  would  be 
traversed  by  the  screw  in  one  revolution  were  it  to  move 
through  the  water  without  slip  ;  i.  e.,  it  is  double  the  dis- 
tance CD,  Fig.  140.  CD'  represents  the  helical  path  of 
the  extremity  of  the  blade  J?,  and  O  EFH  K  \s>  that  of 
the  blade  A.  The  proportion  of  diameter  to  the  pitch  of 
the  screw  is  determined  by  the  speed  of  the  vessel.  For 
low  speed  the  pitch  may  be  as  small  as  \\  the  diameter. 
For  vessels  of  high  speed  the  pitch  is  frequently  double  the 


Fin.  140. — Tugboat  Screw. 


FIG.  141.— Hirsch  Screw. 


diameter.  The  diameter  of  the  screw  is  made  as  great  as 
possible,  since  the  slip  decreases  with  the  increase  of  the 
area  of  screw-disk.  Its  length  is  usually  about  one-sixth  of 
the  diameter.  A  greater  length  produces  loss  by  increase 
of  surface  causing  too  great  friction,  while  a  shorter  screw 
does  not  fully  utilize  the  resisting  power  of  the  cylinder  of 
water  within  which  it  works,  and  increased  slip  causes 
waste  of  power.  An  empirical  value  for  the  probable  slip 
in  vessels  of  good  shape,  which  is  closely  approximate  usu- 
ally, is  S  =  4—,  in  which  £  is  the  slip  per  cent.,  and  J^and 

A  are  the  areas  of  the  midship  section  and  of  the  screw- 
disk  in  square  feet. 


402  THE   STEAM-ENGINE   OF  TO-DAY. 

The  most  effective  screws  have  slightly  greater  pitch  at 
the  periphery  than  at  the  hub,  and  an  increasing  pitch  from 
the  forward  to  the  rear  part  of  the  screw.  The  latter 
method  of  increasing  pitch  is  more  generally  adopted  alone. 
The  thrust  of  the  screw  is  the  pressure  which  it  exerts  in 
driving  the  vessel  forward.  In  well-formed  vessels,  with 
good  screws,  about  two-thirds  of  the  power  applied  to  the 
screw  is  utilized  in  propulsion,  the  remainder  being  wasted 
in  slip  and  other  useless  work.  Its  efficiency  is  in  such  a 
case,  therefore,  66  per  cent.  Twin  screws,  one  on  each  side 
of  the  stern-post,  are  sometimes  used  in  vessels  of  light 
draught  and  considerable  breadth,  whereby  decreased  slip 
is  secured. 

As  has  already  been  stated,  the  introduction  of  the  com- 
pound engine  has  been  attempted,  but  with  less  success 
than  in  Europe,  by  several  American  engineers. 

The  most  radical  change  in  the  methods  of  ship-propul- 
sion which  has  been  successfully  introduced  in  some  locali- 
ties has  been  the  adoption  of  a  system  of  "  wire-rope  tow- 
age." It  is  only  well  adapted  for  cases  in  which  the  steamer 
traverses  the  same  line  constantly,  moving  backward  and 
forward  between  certain  points,  and  is  never  compelled  to 
deviate  to  any  considerable  extent  from  the  path  selected. 
A  similar  system  is  in  use  in  Canada,  but  it  has  not  yet 
come  into  use  in  the  United  States,  notwithstanding  the 
fact  that,  wherever  its  adoption  is  practicable,  it  has  a 
marked  superiority  in  economy  over  the  usual  methods  of 
propulsion.  "With  chain  or  rope  traction  there  is  no  loss  by 
slip  or  oblique  action,  as  in  both  screw  and  paddle-wheel 
propulsion.  In  the  latter  methods  these  losses  amount  to 
an  important  fraction  of  the  total  power  ;  they  rarely,  if 
ever,  fall  below  a  total  of  25  per  cent.,  and  probably  in 
towage  exceed  50  per  cent.  The  objection  to  the  adoption 
of  chain-propulsion,  as  it  is  also  often  called,  is  the  necessity 
of  following  closely  the  line  along  which  the  chain  or  the 
rope  is  laid.  There  is,  however,  much  less  difficulty  than 


MARINE   ENGINES.  403 

would  be  anticipated  in  following  a  sinuous  route  or  in 
avoiding  obstacles  in  the  channel  or  passing  other  vessels. 
The  system  is  particularly  well  adapted  for  use  on  canals. 

The  steam-boilers  in  use  in  the  later  and  best  marine 
engineering  practice  are  of  various  forms,  but  the  standard 
types  are  few  in  number.  That  used  on  river-steamers  in 
the  United  States  has  already  been  described. 

Fig.  142  is  a  type  of  marine  tubular  boiler  which  is  in 
most  extensive  use  in  sea-going  steamers  for  moderate 
pressure,  and  particularly  for  naval  vessels.  Here  the  gases 


FIG.   142.— Marine  Fire-tubular  Boiler.     Section. 

pass  directly  into  the  back  connection  from  the  fire,  and 
thence  forward  again,  through  horizontal  tubes,  to  the  front 
connection  and  up  the  chimney.  In  naval  vessels  the  steam- 
chimney  is  omitted,  as  it  is  there  necessary  to  keep  all  parts 
of  the  boiler  as  far  below  the  water-line  as  possible.  Steam 
is  taken  from  the  boiler  by  pipes  which  are  carried  from 
end  to  end  of  the  steam-space,  near  the  top  of  the  boiler, 
the  steam  entering  these  pipes  through  small  holes  drilled 
on  the  other  side.  Steam  is  thus  taken  from  the  boiler 
"  wet,"  but  no  large  quantity  of  water  can  usually  be  "  en- 
trained "  by  the  steam. 

A  marine  boiler  has  been  quite  extensively  introduced 


404 


THE   STEAM-ENGINE    OF   TO-DAY. 


into  the  United  States  navy,  in  which  the  gases  are  led 
from  the  back  connection  through  a  tube-box  around  and 
among  a  set  of  upright  water-tubes,  which  are  filled  with 
water,  circulation  taking  place  freely  from  the  water-space 
immediately  above  the  crown-sheet  of  the  furnace  up 
through  these  tubes  into  the  water-space  above  them. 
These  "water-tubular"  boilers  have  a  slight  advantage 
over  the  "fire-tubular"  boilers  already  described  in  com- 
pactness, in  steaming  capacity,  and  in  economical  efficiency. 
They  have  a  very  marked  advantage  in  the  facility  with 
which  the  tubes  may  be  scraped  or  freed  from  the  deposit 
when  a  scale  of  sulphate  of  lime  or  other  salt  has  formed 
within  them  by  precipitation  from  the  water.  The  fire- 
tubular  boiler  excels  in  convenience  of  access  for  plugging 
up  leaking  tubes,  and  is  much  less  costly  than  the  water- 
tubular.  The  water-tube  class  of  boilers  still  remain  in 
extensive  use  in  the  United  States  naval  steamers.  They 
have  never  been  much  used  in  the  merchant  service,  al- 
though introduced  by  James  Montgomery  in  the  United 
States  and  by  Lord  Dundonald  in  Great  Britain  twenty 
years  earlier.  Opinion  still  remains  divided  among  engi- 
neers in  regard  to  their  relative  value.  They  are  gradually 


FIG.  143.— Marine  High-Pressure  Boiler.    Section. 

reassuming  prominence  by  their  introduction  in  the  modi- 
fied form  of  sectional  boilers. 

Marine  boilers  are  now  usually  given  the  form  shown  in 
section  in  Fig.  143.    This  form  of  boiler  is  adopted  where 


MARINE  ENGINES.  405 

steam-pressures  of  60  pounds  and  upward  are  carried,  as  in 
steam-vessels  supplied  with  compound  engines,  cylindrical 
forms  being  considered  the  best  with  high  pressures.  The 
large  cylindrical  flues,  therefore,  form  the  furnaces  as 
shown  in  the  transverse  sectional  view.  The  gases  rise,  as 
shown  in  the  longitudinal  section,  through  the  connection, 
and  pass  back  to  the  end  of  the  boiler  through  the  tubes, 
and  thence,  instead  of  entering  a  steam-chimney,  they  are 
conducted  by  a  smoke-connection,  not  shown  in  the  sketch, 
to  the  smoke  funnel  or  stack.  In  merchant-steamers,  a 
steam-drum  is  often  mounted  horizontally  above  the  boiler. 
In  other  cases  a  separator  is  attached  to  the  steam-pipe 
between  boilers  and  engines.  This  usually  consists  of  an 
iron  tank,  divided  by  a  vertical  partition  extending  from  the 
top  nearly  to  the  bottom.  The  steam,  entering  the  top  at 
one  side  of  this  partition,  passes  underneath  it,  and  up  to 
the  top  on  the  opposite  side,  where  it  issues  into  a  steam- 
pipe  leading  directly  to  the  engine.  The  sudden  reversal 
of  its  course  at  the  bottom  causes  it  to  leave  the  suspended 
water  in  the  bottom  of  the  separator,  whence  it  is  drained 
off  by  pipes. 

The  most  interesting  illustrations  of  recent  practice  in 
marine  engineering  and  naval  architecture  are  found  in  the 
steamers  which  are  now  seen  on  transoceanic  routes  for  the 
merchant  service,  and,  in  the  naval  service,  in  the  enormous 
iron-clads  which  have  been  built  in  Great  Britain. 

The  City  of  Peking  is  one  of  the  finest  examples  of 
American  practice.  This  vessel  was  constructed  for  the 
Pacific  Mail  Company.  The  hull  is  423  feet  long,  of  48 
feet  beam,  and  38£  feet  deep.  Accommodations  are  fur- 
nished for  150  cabin  and  1,800  steerage  passengers,  and  the 
coal-bunkers  "  stow "  1,500  tons  of  coal.  The  iron  plates 
of  which  the  sides  and  bottom  are  made  are  from  ||-  to  one 
inch  in  thickness.  The  weight  of  iron  used  in  construction 
was  about  5,500,000  pounds.  The  machinery  weighed  nearly 
2,000,000  pounds,  with  spare  gear  and  accessory  apparatus. 


406  THE  STEAM-ENGINE   OF  TO-DAY. 

The  engines  are  compound,  with  two  steam-cylinders  of 

51  inches  and  two  of  88  inches  diameter,  and  a  stroke  of 
piston  of  4£  feet.     The  condensing  water  is  sent  through 
the  surface-condensers  by  circulating-pumps  driven  by  their 
own  engines.     Ten  boilers  furnish  steam  to  these  engines, 
each  having  a  diameter  of  13  feet,  a  length  of  13|  feet,  and 
a  thickness  of  "  shell "  of  |f  inch.     Each  has  three  furnaces, 
and  contains  204  tubes  of  an  outside  diameter  of  3£  inches. 
All  together,  they  have  520  square  feet  of  grate-surface  and 
17,000  square  feet  of  heating-surface.    The  area  of  cooling- 
surface  in  the  condensers  is  10,000  square  feet.     The  City 
of  Rome,  a  ship  of  later  design,  is  590  feet  long,  "  over  all," 

52  feet  beam,  52  feet  deep,  and  measures  8,300  tons.     The 
engines,  of  8,500  horse-power,  will  drive  the  vessel  18  knots 
(21  miles)  an  hour  ;  they  have  six  steam-cylinders  (three 
high  and  three  low  pressure),  and  are  supplied  with  steam 
by  8  boilers  heated  by  48  furnaces.    The  hull  is  of  steel,  the 
bottom  double,  and  the  whole  divided 'into  ten  compart- 
ments by  transverse  bulkheads.    Two  longitudinal  bulkheads 
in  the  engine  and  boiler  compartments  add  greatly  to  the 
safety  of  the  vessel. 

The  most  successful  steam-vessels  in  general  use  are  these 
screw-steamers  of  transoceanic  lines.  Those  of  the  trans- 
atlantic lines  are  now  built  from  350  to  550  feet  long,  gen- 
erally propelled  from  12  to  18  knots  (14  to  21  miles)  an  hour, 
by  engines  of  from  3,000  to  8,000  horse-power,  consuming 
from  70  to  250  tons  of  coal  a  day,  and  crossing  the  Atlantic 
in  from  eight  to  ten  days.  These  vessels  are  now  invariably 
fitted  with  the  compound  engine  and  surface-condensers. 
One  of  these  vessels,  the  Germanic,  has  been  reported  at 
Sandy  Hook,  the  entrance  to  New  York  Harbor,  in  7  days  11 
hours  37  minutes  from  Queenstown — a  distance,  as  measured 
by  the  log  and  by  observation,  of  2,830  miles.  Another 
steamer,  the  Britannic,  has  crossed  the  Atlantic  in  7  days  10 
hours  and  53  minutes.  These  vessels  are  of  5,000  tons  bur- 
den, of  750  "  nominal "  horse-power  (probably  5,000  actual). 


MARINE   ENGINES. 


407 


The  modern  steamship  is  as  wonderful  an  illustration  of 
ingenuity  and  skill  in  all  interior  arrangements  as  in  size, 


408  THE   STEAM-ENGINE   OF  TO-DAY. 

power,  and  speed.  The  size  of  sea-going  steamers  has  become 
so  great  that  it  is  unsafe  to  intrust  the  raising  of  the  anchor 
or  the  steering  of  the  vessel  to  manual  power  and  skill ;  and 
these  operations,  as  well  as  the  loading  and  unloading  of  the 
vessel,  are  now  the  work  of  the  same  great  motor — steam. 

The  now  common  form  of  auxiliary  engine  for  control- 
ling the  helm  is  one  of  the  inventions  of  the  American  en- 
gineer F.  E.  Sickels,  who  devised  the  "  Sickels  cut-off,"  and 
was  first  invented  about  1850.  It  was  exhibited  at  London 
at  the  International  Exhibition  of  1851.  It  consists '  princi- 
pally of  two  cylinders  working  at  right  angles  upon  a  shaft 
geared  into  a  large  wheel  fastened  by  a  friction-plate  lined 
with  wood,  and  set  by  a  screw  to  any  desired  pressure  on 
the  steering-apparatus.  The  wheel  turned  by  the  steers- 
man is  connected  with  the  valve-gear  of  the  cylinders,  so 
that  the  steam,  or  other  motor,  will  move  the  rudder  pre- 
cisely as  the  helmsman  moves  the  wheel  adjusting  the 
steam-valves.  This  wheel  thus  becomes  the  steering-wheel. 
The  apparatus  is  usually  so  arranged  that  it  may  be  con- 
nected or  disconnected  in  an  instant,  and  hand-steering 
adopted  if  the  smoothness  of  the  sea  and  the  low  speed  of 
the  vessel  make  it  desirable  or  convenient.  This  method 
was  first  adopted  in  the  United  States  on  the  steamship 
Augusta. 

The  same  inventor  and  others  have  contrived  "steam- 
windlasses,"  some  of  which  are  in  general  use  on  large  ves- 
sels. The  machinery  of  these  vessels  is  also  often  fitted 
with  a  steam  "  reversing-gear,"  by  means  of  which  the  en- 
gines are  as  easily  manoeuvred  as  are  those  of  the  smallest 
vessels,  to  which  hand-gear  is  always  fitted.  In  one  of  these 
little  auxiliary  engines,  as  devised  by  the  author,  a  small 
handle  being  adjusted  to  a  marked  position,  as  to  the  point 
marked  "  stop "  on  an  index-plate,  the  auxiliary  engine  at 
once  starts,  throws  the  valve-gear  into  the  proper  position — 

1  "Official  Catalogue,"  1862,  vol.  iv.,  Class  viii.,  p.  123. 


MARINE  ENGINES.  409 

as,  if  a  link-motion,  into  "  middle-gear  " — thus  stopping  the 
large  engines,  and  then  it  itself  stops.  Setting  the  handle 
so  that  its  pointer  shall  point  to  "  ahead,"  the  little  engine 
starts  again,  sets  the  link  in  position  to  go  ahead,  thus 
starting  the  large  engines,  and  again  stops  itself.  If  set  at 
"  back,"  the  same  series  of  operations  occurs,  leaving  the 
main  engines  backing  and  the  little  "reversing  engine" 
stopped.  A  number  of  forms  of  reversing  engine  are  in 
use,  each  adapted  to  some  one  type  of  engine. 

The  hull  of  the  transatlantic  steamer  is  now  always  of 
iron,  and  is  divided  into  a  number  of  "  compartments,"  each 
of  which  is  water-tight  and  separated  from  the  adjacent 
compartments  by  iron  "bulkheads,"  in  which  are  fitted 
doors  which,  when  closed,  are  also  water-tight.  In  some 
cases  these  doors  close  automatically  when  the  water  rises 
in  the  vessel,  thus  confining  it  to  the  leaking  portion. 

Thus  we  have  already  seen  a  change  in  transoceanic 
lines  from  steamers  like  the  Great  Western  (1837),  212  feet 
in  length,  of  35 1  feet  beam,  and  23  feet  depth,  driven  by 
engines  of  450  horse-power,  and  requiring  15  days  to  cross 
the  Atlantic,  to  steamships  over  550  feet  long,  55  feet  beam, 
and  55  feet  deep,  with  engines  of  10,000  horse-power,  cross- 
ing the  Atlantic  in  7  days  ;  iron  substituted  for  wood  in 
construction,  the  cost  of  fuel  reduced  one-half,  and  the 
speed  raised  from  8  to  18  knots  and  over.  In  the  earlier 
days  of  steamships  they  were  given  a  proportion  of  length 
to  breadth  of  from  5  to  6  to  1  ;  in  forty  years  the  propor- 
tion increased  until  11  to  1  was  reached. 

The  whole  naval  establishment  of  every  country  has 
been  greatly  modified  by  the  recent  changes  in  methods  of 
attack  and  defense  ;  but  the  several  classes  of  ships  which 
still  form  the  naval  marine  are  all  as  dependent  upon  their 
steam-machinery  as  ever. 

It  is  only  recently  that  the  attempt  seems  to  have  been 
made  to  determine  a  classification  of  war-vessels  and  to 
plan  a  naval  establishment  which  shall  be  likely  to  meet 


410 


THE   STEAM-ENGINE   OF  TO-DAY. 


fully  the  requirements  of  the  immediate  future.  It  has 
hitherto  been  customary  simply  to  make  each  ship  a  little 
stronger,  faster,  or  more  powerful  to  resist  or  to  make 


MARINE   ENGINES.  411 

attack  than  was  the  last.  The  fact  that  the  direction  of 
progress  in  naval  science  and  architecture  is  plainly  perceiv- 
able, and  that  upon  its  study  may  be  based  a  fair  estimate 
of  the  character  and  relative  distribution  of  several  classes 
of  vessels,  seems  to  have  been  appreciated  by  very  few. 

In  the  year  1870  the  writer  proposed  *  a  classification  of 
vessels  other  than  torpedo-vessels,  which  has  since  been  also 
proposed  in  a  somewhat  modified  form  by  Mr.  J.  Scott 
Russell.11  The  author  then  remarked  that  the  increase  so 
rapidly  occurring  in  weight  of  ordnance  and  of  armor,  and 
in  speed  of  war-vessels,  would  probably  soon  compel  a  di- 
vision of  the  vessels  of  every  navy  into  three  classes  of 
ships,  exclusive  of  torpedo-vessels,  one  for  general  service 
in  time  of  peace,  the  others  for  use  only  in  time  of  war. 

"The  first  class  may  consist  of  unarmored  vessels  of 
moderate  size,  fair  speed  under  steam,  armed  with  a  few 
tolerably  heavy  guns,  and  carrying  full  sail-power. 

"  The  second  class  may  be  vessels  of  great  speed  under 
steam,  unarmored,  carrying  light  batteries  and  as  great 
spread  of  canvas  as  can  readily  be  given  them  ;  very  much 
such  vessels  as  the  "VVampanoag  class  of  our  own  navy  were 
intended  to  be — calculated  expressly  to  destroy  the  com- 
merce of  an  enemy. 

"The  third  class  may  consist  of  ships  carrying  the 
heaviest  possible  armor  and  armament,  with  strongly-built 
bows,  the  most  powerful  machinery  that  can  be  given  them, 
of  large  coal-carrying  capacity,  and  unencumbered  by  sails, 
everything  being  made  secondary  to  the  one  object  of  ob- 
taining victory  in  contending  with  the  most  powerful  of 
possible  opponents.  Such  vessels  could  never  go  to  sea 
singly,  but  would  cruise  in  couples  or  in  squadrons.  It 
seems  hardly  doubtful  that  attempts  to  combine  the  quali- 
ties of  all  classes  in  a  single  vessel,  as  has  hitherto  been 


1  Journal  Franklin  Institute,  1870.     H.  B.  M.  S.  Monarch. 
9  London  Engineering,  1875. 


412  THE   STEAM-ENGINE   OF  TO-DAY. 

done,  will  be  necessarily  given  up,  although  the  classifica- 
tion indicated  will  certainly  tend  largely  to  restrict  naval 
operations." 

The  introduction  of  the  stationary,  the  floating,  and  the 
automatic  classes  of  torpedoes,  and  of  torpedo-vessels,  has 
now  become  accomplished,  and  this  element,  which  it  was 
predicted  by  Bushnell  and  by  Fulton  three-quarters  of  a 
century  ago  would  at  some  future  time  become  important 
in  warfare,  is  now  well  recognized  by  all  nations.  How  far 
it  may  modify  future  naval  establishments  cannot  be  yet 
confidently  stated,  but  it  seems  sufficiently  evident  that  the 
attack,  by  any  navy,  of  stationary  defenses  protected  by 
torpedoes  is  now  quite  a  thing  of  the  past.  It  may  be  per- 
haps looked  upon  as  exceedingly  probable  that  torpedo- 
ships  of  very  high  speed  will  yet  drive  all  heavily-armored 
vessels  from  the  ocean,  thus  completing  the  historic  parallel 
between  the  man-in-armor  of  the  middle  ages  and  the  ar- 
mored man-of-war  of  our  own  time.1 

Of  these  classes,  the  third  is  of  most  interest,  as  exhibit- 
ing most  perfectly  the  importance  and  variety  of  the  work 
which  the  steam-engine  is  made  to  perform.  On  the  later 
of  these  vessels,  the  anchor  is  raised  by  a  steam  anchor- 
hoisting  apparatus  ;  the  heavier  spars  and  sails  are  handled 
by  the  aid  of  a  steam-windlass  ;  the  helm  is  controlled  by  a 
steering-engine,  and  the  helmsman,  with  his  little  finger, 
sets  in  motion  a  steam-engine,  which  adjusts  the  rudder 
with  a  power  which  is  unimpeded  by  wind  or  sea,  and  with 
an  exactness  that  could  not  be  exceeded  by  the  hand-steer- 
ing gear  of  a  yacht ;  the  guns  are  loaded  by  steam,  are  ele- 
vated or  depressed,  and  are  given  lateral  training,  by  the 
same  power  ;  the  turrets  in  which  the  guns  are  incased  are 
turned,  and  the  guns  are  whirled  toward  every  point  of  the 
compass,  in  less  time  than  is  required  to  sponge  and  reload 


1  Vide  "  Report  oil  Machinery  and  Manufactures,  etc.,  at  Vienna,"  by 
the  author,  Washington,  1875. 


MARINE  ENGINES.  413 

them  ;  and  the  ship  itself  is  driven  through  the  water  by 
the  power  of  ten  thousand  horses,  at  a  speed  which  is  only 
excelled  on  land  by  that  of  the  railroad-train. 

The  British  Minotaur  was  one  of  the  earlier  iron-clads. 
The  great  length  and  consequent  difficulty  of  manoeuvring, 
the  defect  of  speed,  and  the  weakness  of  armor  of  these 
vessels  have  led  to  the  substitution  of  far  more  effective 
designs  in  later  constructions.  The  Minotaur  is  a  four- 
masted  screw  iron-clad,  400  feet  long,  of  59  feet  beam  and 
26£  feet  draught  of  water.  Her  speed  at  sea  is  about  12| 
knots,  and  her  engines  develop,  as  a  maximum,  nearly  6,000 
indicated  horse-power.  Her  heaviest  armor-plates  are  but 
6  inches  in  thickness.  Her  extreme  length  and  her  unbal- 
anced rudder  make  it  difficult  to  turn  rapidly.  With  eigh- 
teen men  at  the  steering-wheel  and  sixty  others  on  the  tackle, 
the  ship,  on  one  occasion,  was  7£  minutes  in  turning  com- 
pletely around.  These  long  iron-clads  were  succeeded  by 
the  shorter  vessels  designed  by  Mr.  E.  J.  Reed,  of  which 
the  first,  the  Bellerophon,  was  of  4,246  tons  burden,  300 
feet  long  by  56  feet  beam,  and  24£  feet  draught,  of  the  14- 
knot  speed,  with  4,600  horse-power  ;  and  having  the  "  bal- 
anced rudder  "  used  many  years  earlier  in  the  United  States 
by  Robert  L.  Stevens,1  it  can  turn  in  four  minutes  with 
eight  men  at  the  wheel.  The  cost  of  construction  was  some 
$600,000  less  than  that  of  the  Minotaur.  A  still  later  ves- 
sel, the  Monarch,  was  constructed  on  a  system  quite  similar 
to  that  known  in  the  United  States  as  the  Monitor  type,  or 
as  a  turreted  iron-clad.  This  vessel  is  330  feet  long,  57£ 
feet  wide,  and  36  feet  deep,  drawing  24£  feet  of  water. 
The  total  weight  of  ship  and  contents  is  over  8,000  tons, 
and  the  engines  are  of  over  8,500  horse-power.  The  armor 
is  6  and  7  inches  thick  on  the  hull,  and  8  inches  on  the  two 
turrets,  over  a  heavy  teak  backing.  The  turrets  contain 
each  two  12-inch  rifled  guns,  Aveighing  25  tons  each,  and, 

1  Still  in  use  on  the  Hoboken  ferry-boats. 


414  THE  STEAM-ENGINE  OF  TO-DAY. 

with  a  charge  of  70  pounds  of  powder,  throwing  a  shot  of 
600  pounds  weight  with  a  velocity  of  1,200  feet  per  sec- 
ond, and  giving  it  a  vis  viva  equivalent  to  the  raising  of 
over  6,100  tons  one  foot  high,  and  equal  to  the  work  of  pen- 
etrating an  iron  plate  13£  inches  thick.  This  immense  ves- 
sel is  driven  by  a  pair  of  "  single-cylinder  "  engines  having 
steam-cylinders  ten  feet  in  diameter  and  of  4£  feet  stroke 
of  piston,  driving  a  two-bladed  Griffith  screw  of  23£  feet 
diameter  and  26|  feet  pitch,  65  revolutions,  at  the  maxi- 
mum speed  of  14.9  knots,  or  about  17£  miles,  an  hour. 
To  drive  these  powerful  engines,  boilers  having  an  aggre- 
gate of  about  25,000  square  feet  (or  more  than  a  half- 
acre)  of  heating-surface  are  required,  with  900  square  feet 
of  grate-surface.  The  refrigerating  surface  in  the  condens- 
ers has  an  area  of  16,500  square  feet — over  one-third  of  an 
acre.  The  cost  of  these  engines  and  boilers  was  £66,500. 

Were  all  this  vast  steam-power  developed,  giving  the 
vessel  a  speed  of  15  knots,  the  ship,  if  used  as  a  "  ram," 
would  strike  an  enemy  at  rest  with  the  tremendous  "  ener- 
gy "  of  48,000  foot-tons — equal  to  the  shock  of  the  projec- 
tiles of  eight  or  nine  such  guns  as  are  carried  by  the  iron- 
clad itself,  simultaneously  discharged  upon  one  spot. 

But  even  this  great  vessel  is  less  formidable  than  later 
vessels.  One  of  the  latter,  the  Inflexible,  is  a  shorter  but 
wider  and  deeper  ship  than  the  Monarch,  measuring  320 
feet  long,  75  feet  beam,  and  25  draught,  displacing  over 
10,000  tons.  The  great  rifles  carried  by  this  vessel  weigh 
81  tons  each,  throwing  shot  weighing  a  half -ton  from  be- 
hind iron-plating  two  feet  in  thickness.  The  steam-engines 
are  of  about  the  same  power  as  those  of  the  Monarch, 
and  give  this  enormous  hull  a  speed  of  14  knots  an  hour. 

The  navy  of  the  United  States  does  not  to-day  possess 
iron-dads  of  power  even  approximating  that  of  either  of 
several  classes  of  British  and  other  foreign  naval  vessels. 

The  largest  vessel  of  any  class  yet  constructed  is  the 
Great  Eastern  (Fig.  146),  begun  in  1854  and  completed  in 


MARINE   ENGINES.  415 

1859,  by  J.  Scott  Russell,  on  the  Thames,  England.  This  ship 
is  680  feet  long,  83  feet  wide,  58  feet  deep,  28  feet  draught, 
and  of  24,000  tons  measurement.  There  are  four  paddle  and 
four  screw  engines,  the  former  having  steam-cylinders  74 
inches  in  diameter,  with  14  feet  stroke,  the  latter  84  inches  in 


FIG.  146.— The  Great  Eastern. 

diameter  and  4  feet  stroke.  They  are  collectively  of  10,000 
actual  horse-power.  The  paddle-wheels  are  56  feet  in  diam- 
eter, the  screw  24  feet.  The  steam-boilers  supplying  the 
paddle-engines  have  44,000  square  feet  (more  than  an  acre) 
of  heating-surface.  The  boilers  supplying  the  screw-en- 
gines are  still  larger.  At  30  feet  draught,  this  great  vessel 
displaces  27,000  tons.  The  engines  were  designed  to  de- 
velop 10,000  horse-power,  driving  the  ship  at  the  rate  of 
16  £  statute  miles  an  hour. 

The  figures  quoted  in  the  descriptions  of  these  great 
steamships  do  not  enable  the  non-professional  reader  to  form 
a  conception  of  the  wonderful  power  which  is  concentrated 
within  so  small  a  space  as  is  occupied  by  their  steam-ma- 
chinery. The  "  horse-power  "  of  the  engines  is  that  deter- 


416 


THE   STEAM-ENGINE   OF  TO-DAY. 


mined  by  James  Watt  as  the  maximum  obtainable  for  eight 
hours  a  day  from  the  strongest  London  draught-horses. 
The  ordinary  average  draught-horse  would  hardly  be  able 
to  exert  two-thirds  as  much  during  the  eight  hours'  steady 
work  of  a  working-day.  The  working-day  of  the  steam- 
engine,  on  the  other  hand,  is  twenty-four  hours  in  length. 

The  work  of  the  10,000  horse-power  engines  of  the 
Great  Eastern  could  be  barely  equaled  by  the  efforts  of 
15,000  horses  ;  but  to  continue  their  work  uninterruptedly, 


FIG.  147.— The  Groat  Eastern  at  Sea 


day  in  and  day  out,  for  weeks  together,  as  when  done  by 
steam,  would  require  at  least  three  relays,  or  45,000  horses. 
Such  a  stud  would  weigh  25,000  tons,  and  if  harnessed 
"  tandem  "  would  extend  thirty  miles.  It  is  only  by  such  a 
comparison  that  the  mind  can  begin  to  comprehend  the 
utter  impossibility  of  accomplishing  by  means  of  animal 


MARINE  ENGINES.  417 

power  the  work  now  done  for  the  world  by  steam.  The 
cost  of  the  greater  power  is  but  about  one-tenth  that  of 
horse-power,  and  by  its  means  tasks  are  accomplished  with 
ease  which  are  absolutely  impossible  of  accomplishment  by 
animal  power. 

It  is  estimated  that  the  total  steam-power  of  the  world 
is  about  15,000,000  horse-power,  and  that,  were  horses  actu- 
ally employed  to  do  the  work  which  these  engines  would 
be  capable  of  doing  were  they  kept  constantly  in  operation, 
the  number  required  would  exceed  60,000,000. 

Thus,  from  the  small  beginnings  of  the  Comte  d'Auxi- 
ron  and  the  Marquis  de  Jouffroy  in  France,  of  Symmington 
in  Great  Britain,  and  of  Henry,  Rumsey,  and  Fitch,  and  of 
Fulton  and  Stevens,  in  the  United  States,  steam-navigation 
has  grown  into  a  great  and  inestimable  aid  and  blessing  to 
mankind. 

We  to-day  cross  the  ocean  with  less  risk,  and  transport 
ourselves  and  our  goods  at  as  little  cost  in  either  time 
or  money  as,  at  the  beginning  of  the  century,  our  parents 
experienced  in  traveling  one-tenth  the  distance. 

It  is  largely  in  consequence  of  this  ingenious  application 
of  a  power  that  reminds  one  of  the  fabled  genii  of  Eastern 
romance,  that  the  mechanic  and  the  laborer  of  to-day  enjoy 
comforts  and  luxuries  that  were  denied  to  wealth,  and  to 
royalty  itself,  a  century  ago. 

The  magnitude  of  our  modern  steamships  excites  the 
wonder  and  admiration  of  even  the  people  of  our  own  time  ; 
and  there  is  certainly  no  creation  of  art  that  can  be  grander 
in  appearance  than  a  transatlantic  steamer  a  hundred  and 
fifty  yards  in  length,  and  weighing,  with  her  stores,  five  or 
six  thousand  tons,  as  she  starts  on  her  voyage,  moved  by 
engines  equal  in  power  to  the  united  strength  of  thousands 
of  horses  ;  none  can  more  fully  awaken  a  feeling  of  awe 
than  an  immense  structure  like  the  great  modern  iron-clads 
(Fig.  145),  vessels  having  a  total  weight  of  8,000  to  10,000 
tons,  and  propelled  by  steam-engines  of  as  many  horse- 


418  THE  STEAM-ENGINE   OF  TO-DAY. 

power,  carrying  guns  whose  shot  penetrate  solid  iron  20 
inches  thick,  and  having  a  power  of  impact,  when  steaming 
at  moderate  speed,  sufficient  to  raise  35,000  tons  a  foot  high. 

Far  more  huge  than  the  Monarch  among  the  iron-clads 
even  is  that  prematurely-built  monster,  the  Great  Eastern 
(Fig.  147),  already  described,  an  eighth  of  a  mile  long,  and 
with  steam  doing  the  work  of  a  stud  of  45,000  horses. 

Thus  we  are  to-day  witnessing  the  literal  fulfillment  of 
the  predictions  of  Oliver  Evans  and  of  John  Stevens,  and 
almost  that  contained  in  the  couplets  written  by  the  poet 
Darwin,  who,  more  than  a  century  ago,  before  even  the 
earliest  of  Watt's  improvements  had  become  generally 
known,  sang  : 

"Soon  shall  thy  arm,  unconquered  Steam,  afar 
Drag  the  slow  barge,  or  drive  the  rapid  car ; 
Or,  on  wide-waving  wings  expanded,  bear 
The  flying  chariot  through  the  fields  of  air." 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  THE  STEAM-ENGINE. 

THE  HISTORY  OF  ITS  GROWTH  ;   ENERGETICS  AND  THER- 
MO-DTNAMICS. 

"Or  all  the  features  which  characterize  this  progressive  economical 
movement  of  civilized  nations,  that  which  first  excites  attention,  through 
its  intimate  connection  with  the  phenomena  of  production,  is  the  perpetual 
and,  so  far  as  human  foresight  can  extend,  the  unlimited  growlh  of  man's 
power  over  Nature.  Our  knowledge  of  the  properties  and  laws  of  physical 
objects  shows  no  sign  of  approaching  its  ultimate  boundaries ;  it  is  advan- 
cing more  rapidly,  and  in  a  greater  number  of  directions  at  once,  than  in  any 
previous  age  or  generation,  and  affording  such  frequent  glimpses  of  unex- 
plored fields  beyond  as  to  justify  the  belief  that  our  acquaintance  with 
Nature  is  still  almost  in  its  infancy." — MILL. 

THE  growth  of  the  philosophy  of  the  steam-engine  pre- 
sents as  interesting  a  study  as  that  of  the  successive  changes 
which  have  occurred  in  its  mechanism. 

In  the  operation  of  the  steam-engine  we  find  illustrated 
many  of  the  most  important  principles  and  facts  which  con- 
stitute the  physical  sciences.  The  steam-engine  is  an  ex- 
ceedingly ingenious,  but,  unfortunately,  still  very  imperfect, 
machine  for  transforming  the  heat-energy  obtained  by  the 
chemical  combination  of  a  combustible  with  the  supporter 
of  combustion  into  mechanical  energy.  But  the  original 
source  of  all  this  energy  is  found  far  back  of  its  first  ap- 
pearance in  the  steam-boiler.  It  had  its  origin  at  the  begin- 
ning, when  all  Nature  came  into  existence.  After  the  solar 
system  had  been  formed  from  the  nebulous  chaos  of  crea- 
tion, the  glowing  mass  which  is  now  called  the  sun  was  the 


420  THE   PHILOSOPHY   OF  THE   STEAM-ENGINE. 

depository  of  a  vast  store  of  heat-energy,  which  was  thence 
radiated  into  space  and  showered  upon  the  attendant  worlds 
in  inconceivable  quantity  and  with  unmeasured  intensity. 
During  the  past  life  of  the  globe,  the  heat-energy  received 
from  the  sun  upon  the  earth's  surface  was  partly  expended 
in  the  production  of  great  forests,  and  the  storage,  in  the 
trunks,  branches,  and  leaves  of  the  trees  of  which  they  were 
composed,  of  an  immense  quantity  of  carbon,  which  had 
previously  existed  in  the  atmosphere,  combined  with  oxy- 
gen, as  carbonic  acid.  The  great  geological  changes  which 
buried  these  forests  under  superincumbent  strata  of  rock 
and  earth  resulted  in  the  formation  of  coal-beds,  and  the 
storage,  during  many  succeeding  ages,  of  a  vast  amount  of 
carbon,  of  which  the  affinity  for  oxygen  remained  unsatis- 
fied until  finally  uncovered  by  the  hand  of  man.  Thus  we 
owe  to  the  heat  and  light  of  the  sun,  as  was  pointed  out  by 
George  Stephenson,  the  incalculable  store  of  potential  en- 
ergy upon  which  the  human  race  is  so  dependent  for  life 
and  all  its  necessaries,  comforts,  and  luxuries. 

This  coal,  thrown  upon  the  grate  in  the  steam-boiler, 
takes  fire,  and,  uniting  again  with  the  oxygen,  sets  free 
heat  in  precisely  the  same  quantity  that  it  was  received 
from  the  sun  and  appropriated  during  the  growth  of  the 
tree.  The  actual  energy  thus  rendered  available  is  trans- 
ferred, by  conduction  and  radiation,  to  the  water  in  the 
steam-boiler,  converts  it  into  steam,  and  its  mechanical 
effect  is  seen  in  the  expansion  of  the  liquid  into  vapor 
against  the  superincumbent  pressure.  Transferred  from 
the  boiler  to  the  engine,  the  steam  is  there  permitted  to 
expand,  doing  work,  and  the  heat-energy  with  which  it  is 
charged  becomes  partly  converted  into  mechanical  energy, 
and  is  applied  to  useful  work  in  the  mill  or  to  driving  the 
locomotive  or  the  steamboat. 

Thus  we  may  trace  the  store  of  energy  received  from 
the  sun  and  contained  in  our  coal  through  its  several  changes 
until  it  is  finally  set  at  work  ;  and  we  might  go  still  fur- 


THE   HISTORY   OF   ITS   GROWTH.  431 

ther  and  observe  how,  in  each  case,  it  is  again  usually  re- 
transformed  and  again  set  free  as  heat-energy. 

The  transformation  which  takes  place  in  the  furnace  is 
a  chemical  change  ;  the  transfer  of  heat  to  the  water  and 
the  subsequent  phenomena  accompanying  its  passage 
through  the  engine  are  physical  changes,  some  of  which 
require  for  their  investigation  abstruse  mathematical  opera- 
tions. A  thorough  comprehension  of  the  principles  govern- 
ing the  operation  of  the  steam-engine,  therefore,  can  only 
be  attained  after  studying  the  phenomena  of  physical 
science  with  sufficient  minuteness  and  accuracy  to  be  able 
to  express  with  precision  the  laws  of  which  those  sciences 
are  constituted.  The  study  of  the  philosophy  of  the  steam- 
engine  involves  the  study  of  chemistry  and  physics,  and  of 
the  new  science  of  energetics,  of  which  the  now  well-grown 
science  of  thermo-dynamics  is  a  branch.  This  sketch  of  the 
growth  of  the  steam-engine  may,  therefore,  be  veiy  prop- 
erly concluded  by  an  outline  of  the  growth  of  the  sev- 
eral sciences  which  together  make  up  its  philosophy,  and 
especially  of  the  science  of  thermo-dynamics,  which  is  pe- 
culiarly the  science  of  the  steam-engine  and  of  the  other 
heat-engines. 

These  sciences,  like  the  steam-engine  itself,  have  an  ori- 
gin which  antedates  the  commencement  of  the  Christian 
era  ;  but  they  grew  with  an  almost  imperceptible  growth 
for  many  centuries,  and  finally,  only  a  century  ago,  started 
onward  suddenly  and  rapidly,  and  their  progress  has  never 
since  been  checked.  They  are  now  fully-developed  and 
well-established  systems  of  natural  philosophy.  Yet,  like 
that  of  the  steam-engine  and  of  its  companion  heat-engines, 
their  growth  has  by  no  means  ceased  ;  and,  while  the  stu- 
dent of  science  cannot  do  more  than  indicate  the  direction 
of  their  progress,  he  can  readily  believe  that  the  beginning 
of  the  end  is  not  yet  reached  in  their  movement  toward 
completeness,  either  in  the  determination  of  facts  or  in  the 
codification  of  their  laws. 


422  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  THE   STEAM-EXGINE. 

When  Hero  lived  at  Alexandria,  the  great  "  Museum  " 
was  a  most  important  centre,  about  which  gathered  the 
teachers  of  all  then  known  philosophies  and  of  all  the  then 
recognized  but  unformed  sciences,  as  well  as  of  all  those 
technical  branches  of  study  which  had  already  been  so  far 
developed  as  to  be  capable  of  being  systematically  taught. 
Astronomical  observations  had  been  made  regularly  and 
uninterruptedly  by  the  Chaldean  astrologers  for  two  thou- 
sand years,  and  records  extending  back  many  centuries  had 
been  secured  at  Babylon  by  Calisthenes  and  given  to  Aris- 
totle, the  father  of  our  modern  scientific  method.  Ptolemy 
had  found  ready  to  his  hand  the  records  of  Chaldean  ob- 
servers of  eclipses  extending  back  nearly  650  years,  and 
marvelously  accurate.1 

A  rude  method  of  printing  with  an  engraved  roller  on 
plastic  clay,  afterward  baked,  thus  making  up  ceramic  li- 
braries, was  practised  long  previous  to  this  time  ;  and  in 
the  alcoves  in  which  Hero  worked  were  many  of  these 
books  of  clay. 

This  great  Library  and  Museum  of  Alexandria  was 
founded  three  centuries  before  the  birth  of  Christ,  by  Ptol- 
emy Soter,  who  established  as  his  capital  that  great  Egyp- 
tian city  when  the  death  of  his  brother,  the  youthful  but 
famous  conqueror  whose  name  he  gave  it,  placed  him  upon 
the  throne  of  the  colossal  successor  of  the  then  fallen 
Persian  Empire.  The  city  itself,  embellished  with  every 
ornament  and  provided  with  every  luxury  that  the  wealth 
of  a  conquered  world  or  the  skill,  taste,  and  ingenuity  of 
the  Greek  painters,  sculptors,  architects,  and  engineers 
could  provide,  was  full  of  wonders  ;  it  was  a  wonder  in  it- 
self. This  rich,  populous,  and  magnificent  city  was  the 
metropolis  of  the  then  civilized  world.  Trade,  commerce, 
manufactures,  and  the  fine  arts  wei'e  all  represented  in  this 

1  Their  estimate  of  the  length  of  the  Saros,  or  cycle  of  eclipses — over  19 
years — was  "within  19 J  minutes  of  the  truth." — DKAPER. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  ITS  GROWTH.  433 

splendid  exchange,  and  learning  found  its  most  acceptable 
home  and  noblest  field  within  the  walls  of  Ptolemy's  Mu- 
seum ;  its  disciples  found  themselves  welcomed  and  pro- 
tected by  its  founder  and  his  successors,  Philadelphus  and 
the  later  Ptolemies. 

The  Alexandrian  Museum  was  founded  with  the  de- 
clared object  of  collecting  all  written  works  of  authority, 
of  promoting  the  study  of  literature  and  art,  and  of  stimu- 
lating and  assisting  experimental  and  mathematical  scien- 
tific investigation  and  research.  The  founders  of  modern 
libraries,  colleges,  and  technical  schools  have  their  proto- 
type in  intelligence,  public  spirit,  and  liberality,  in  the  first 
of  the  Ptolemies,  who  not  only  spent  an  immense  sum  in 
establishing  this  great  institution,  but  spared  no  expense 
in  sustaining  it.  Agents  were  sent  out  into  all  parts  of 
the  world,  purchasing  books.  A  large  staff  of  scribes  was 
maintained  at  the  museum,  whose  duty  it  was  to  mul- 
tiply copies  of  valuable  works,  and  to  copy  for  the  library 
such  works  as  could  not  be  purchased. 

The  faculty  of  the  museum  was  as  carefully  organized 
as  was  the  plan  of  its  administration.  The  four  principal 
faculties  of  astronomy,  literature,  mathematics,  and  medi- 
cine were  subdivided  into  sections  devoted  to  the  several 
branches  of  each  department.  The  collections  of  the  mu- 
seum were  as  complete  as  the  teachers  of  the  undeveloped 
sciences  of  the  time  could  make  them.  Lectures  were  given 
in  all  branches  of  study,  and  the  number  of  students  was 
sometimes  as  great  as  twelve  or  thirteen  thousand.  The 
number  of  books  which  were  collected  here,  when  the  bar- 
barian leaders  of  the  Roman  troops  under  Caesar  burned 
the  greater  part  of  it,  was  stated  to  be  700,000.  Of  these, 
400,000  were  within  the  museum  itself,  and  were  all  de- 
stroyed ;  the  rest  were  in  the  temple  of  Serapis,  and,  for 
the  time,  escaped  destruction. 

The  greatest  of  all  the  great  men  who  lived  at  Alexan- 
dria at  the  time  of  the  establishment  of  the  museum  was 


424  THE  PHILOSOPHY   OF  THE   STEAM-ENGINE. 

Aristotle,  the  teacher  of  Alexander  and  the  friend  of  Ptol- 
emy. It  is  to  Aristotle  that  we  owe  the  systematization  of 
the  philosophical  ideas  of  Plato  and  the  creation  of  the 
inductive  method,  in  which  has  originated  all  modern  sci- 
ence. It  is  to  the  learned  men  of  Alexandria  that  we  are 
indebted  for  so  effective  an  application  of  the  Aristotelian 
philosophy  that  all  the  then  known  sciences  were  given 
form,  and  were  so  thoroughly  established  that  the  work  of 
modern  science  has  been  purely  one  of  development. 

The  inductive  method,  which  built  up  all  the  older 
sciences,  and  which  has  created  all  those  of  recent  devel- 
opment, consists,  first,  in  the  discovery  and  quantitative 
determination  of  facts  ;  secondly,  when  a  sufficient  number 
of  facts  have  been  thus  observed  and  defined,  in  the  group- 
ing of  those  facts,  and  the  detection,  by  a  study  of  their 
mutual  relations,  of  the  natural  laws  which  give  rise  to  or 
regulate  them.  This  simple  method  is  that — and  the  only — 
method  by  which  science  advances.  By  this  method,  and 
by  it  only,  do  we  acquire  connected  and  systematic  knowl- 
edge of  all  the  phenomena  of  Nature  of  which  the  physical 
sciences  are  cognizant.  It  is  only  by  the  application  of  this 
Aristotelian  method  and  philosophy  that  we  can  hope  to 
acquire  exact  scientific  knowledge  of  existing  phenomena, 
or  to  become  able  to  anticipate  the  phenomena  which  are 
to  distinguish  the  future.  The  Aristotelian  method  of  ob- 
serving facts,  and  of  inductive  reasoning  with  those  facts 
as  a  basis,  has  taught  the  chemist  the  properties  of  the 
known  elementary  substances  and  their  characteristic  be- 
havior under  ascertained  conditions,  and  has  taught  him 
the  laws  of  combination  and  the  effects  of  their  union,  ena- 
bling him  to  predict  the  changes  and  the  phenomena, 
chemical  and  physical,  which  inevitably  follow  their  con- 
tact under  any  specified  set  of  conditions. 

It  is  this  process  which  has  enabled  the  physicist  to  as- 
certain the  methods  of  molecular  motion  which  give  us 
light,  heat,  or  electricity,  and  the  range  of  action  and  the 


THE  HISTORY  OF  ITS  GROWTH.  425 

laws  which  govern  the  transfer  of  energy  from  one  of  these 
modes  of  motion  to  another.  It  was  this  method  of  study 
which  enabled  James  Watt  to  detect  and  to  remedy  the 
defects  of  the  Newcomen  engine,  and  it  is  by  the  Aristote- 
lian philosophy  that  the  engineer  of  to-day  is  taught  to  con- 
struct the  modern  steamship,  and  to  predict,  before  the  keel 
is  laid  or  a  blow  struck  in  the  workshop  or  the  ship-yard, 
what  will  be  the  weight  of  the  vessel,  its  cargo-carrying 
capacity,  the  necessary  size  and  power  of  its  engines,  the 
quantity  of  coal  which  they  will  require  per  day  while 
crossing  the  ocean,  the  depth  at  which  the  great  hull  will 
float  in  the  water,  and  the  exact  speed  that  the  vessel  will 
attain  when  the  engines  are  exerting  their  thousand  or  their 
ten  thousand  horse-power. 

It  was  at  Alexandria  that  this  mighty  philosophy  was 
first  given  a  field  in  which  to  work  effectively.  Here  Ptol- 
emy studied  astronomy  and  "  natural  philosophy  ; "  Ar- 
chimedes applied  himself  to  the  studies  which  attract  the 
mathematician  and  engineer  ;  Euclid  taught  his  royal  pupil 
those  elements  of  geometry  which  have  remained  standard 
twenty-two  centuries  ;  Eratosthenes  and  Hipparchus  studied 
and  taught  astronomy,  and  inaugurated  the  existing  system 
of  quantitative  investigation,  proving  the  spherical  form  of 
the  earth  ;  and  Ctesibius  and  Hero  studied  pneumatics  and 
experimented  with  the  germs  of  the  steam-engine  and  of 
less  important  machines. 

When,  seven  centuries  later,  the  destruction  of  this 
splendid  institution  was  signalized  by  the  death  of  that 
brilliant  scholar  and  heathen  teacher  of  philosophy,  Hypa- 
tia,  at  the  hands  of  the  more  heathenish  fanatics  who  tore 
her  in  pieces  at  the  foot  of  the  cross,  and  by  the  dispersion 
of  the  library  left  by  Crcsar's  soldiers  in  the  Serapeum,  a  true 
philosophy  had  been  created,  and  the  inductive  method  was 
destined  to  live  and  to  overcome  every  obstacle  in  the  path 
of  enlightenment  and  civilization.  The  fall  of  the  Alexan- 
drian Museum,  sad  as  was  the  event,  could  not  destroy  the 


426  THE   PHILOSOPHY   OF  THE   STEAM-ENGINE. 

new  philosophical  method.     Its  fruits  ripened  slowly  but 
surely,  and  we  are  to-day  gathering  a  plentiful  harvest. 

Science,  literature,  and  the  arts,  all  remained  dormant 
for  several  centuries  after  the  catastrophe  which  deprived 
them  of  the  light  in  which  they  had  flourished  so  many 
centuries.  The  armies  of  the  caliphs  made  complete  the 
shameful  work  of  destruction  begun  by  the  armies  of  Cae- 
sar, and  the  Alexandrian  Library,  partly  destroyed  by  the 
Romans,  was  completely  dispersed  by  the  Patriarchs  and 
their  ignorant  and  fanatical  followers  ;  and  finally  all  the 
scattered  remnants  were  burned  by  the  Saracens.  But 
when  the  thirst  for  conquest  had  become  satiated  or  ap- 
peased, the  followers  of  the  caliphs  turned  their  attention 
to  intellectual  pursuits,  and  the  ninth  century  of  the  Chris- 
tian era  saw  once  more  such  a  collection  of  philosophical 
writings,  collected  at  Bagdad,  as  could  only  be  gathered  by 
the  power  and  wealth  of  the  later  conquerors  of  the  world. 
Philosophy  once  again  resumed  its  empire,  and  another  race 
commenced  the  study  of  the  mathematics  of  India  and  of 
Greece,  the  astronomy  of  Chaldea,  and  of  all  the  sciences 
which  originated  in  Greece  and  in  Egypt.  By  the  conquest 
of  Spain  by  the  Saracens,  the  new  civilization  was  imported 
into  Western  Europe  and  libraries  were  gathered  together 
under  the  Moorish  rulers,  one  of  which  numbered  more 
than  a  half-million  volumes.  Wherever  Saracen  armies 
had  extended  Mohammedan  rule,  schools  and  colleges,  li- 
braries and  collections  of  philosophical  apparatus,  were 
scattered  in  strange  profusion  ;  and  students,  teachers,  phi- 
losophers, of  all — the  speculative  as  well  as  the  Aristo- 
telian—  schools,  gathered  together  at  these  intellectual 
ganglia,  as  enthusiastic  in  their  work  as  were  their  Alex- 
andrian predecessors.  The  endowment  of  colleges,  that 
truest  gauge  of  the  intelligence  of  the  wealthy  classes  of 
any  community,  became  as  common — perhaps  more  so — as 
at  the  present  time,  and  provision  was  made  for  the  educa- 
tion of  rich  and  poor  alike.  The  mathematical  sciences, 


THE   HISTORY   OF  ITS   GROWTH.  427 

and  the  wonderful  and  beautiful  phenomena  which — but  a 
thousand  years  later — were  afterward  grouped  into  a  science 
and  called  chemistry,  were  especially  attractive  to  the  Ara- 
bian scholars,  and  technical  applications  of  discovered  facts 
and  laws  assisted  in  a  wonderfully  rapid  development  of 
arts  and  manufactures. 

When,  a  thousand  years  after  Christ,  the  centre  of  in- 
tellectual activity  and  of  material  civilization  had  drifted 
westward  into  Andalusia,  the  foundation  of  every  modern 
physical  science  except  that  now  just  taking  shape — the 
all-grasping  science  of  energetics — had  been  laid  with  ex- 
perimentally derived  facts  ;  and  in  mathematics  there  had 
been  erected  a  symmetrical  and  elegant  superstructure. 
Even  that  underlying  principle  of  all  the  sciences,  the  prin- 
ciple of  the  persistence  of  energy,  had  been,  perhaps  unwit- 
tingly, enunciated. 

Distinguished  historians  have  shown  how  the  progress 
of  civilization  in  Europe  resulted  in  the  creation,  during 
the  middle  ages,  of  the  now  great  middle  class,  which,  hold- 
ing the  control  of  political  power,  governs  every  civilized 
nation,  and  has  come  into  power  so  gradually  that  it  was 
only  after  centuries  that  its  influence  was  seen  and  felt. 
This,  which  Buckle l  calls  the  intellectual  class,  first  became 
active,  independently  of  the  military  and  of  the  clergy,  in 
the  fourteenth  century.  In  the  two  succeeding  centuries 
this  class  gained  power  and  influence  ;  and  in  the  seven- 
teenth century  we  find  a  magnificent  advance  in  all  branches 
of  science,  literature,  and  art,  marking  the  complete  eman- 
cipation of  the  intellect  from  the  artificial  conditions  which 
had  so  long  repressed  its  every  effort  at  advancement. 

Another  great  social  revolution  thus  occurred,  follow- 
ing another  period  of  centuries  of  intellectual  stagnation. 
The  Saracen  invaders  were  driven  from  Europe  ;  the  Cru- 
saders invaded  Palestine,  in  the  vain  effort  to  recover  from 
the  hands  of  the  infidels  the  Holy  Sepulchre  and  the  Holy 
1  "  History  of  Civilization  in  England,"  vol.  i.,  p.  208.  London,  1808. 


428  THE   PHILOSOPHY   OF  THE   STEAM-ENGIXE. 

Land  ;  and  intestine  broils  and  inter-state  conflicts,  as  well 
as  these  greater  social  movements,  withdrew  the  minds  of 
men  once  more  from  the  arts  of  peace  and  the  pursuits  of 
scholars.  It  is  not,  then,  until  the  beginning  of  the  seven- 
teenth century — the  time  of  Galileo  and  of  Newton — that  we 
find  the  nations  of  Europe  sufficiently  quiet  and  secure  to 
permit  general  attention  to  intellectual  vocations,  although  it 
was  a  half -century  earlier  (1543)  that  Copernicus  left  to  the 
world  that  legacy  which  revolutionized  the  theories  of  the 
astronomers  and  established  as  correct  the  hypothesis  which 
made  the  sun  the  centre  of  the  solar  system. 

Galileo  now  began  to  overturn  the  speculations  of  the 
deductive  philosophers,  and  to  proclaim  the  still  disputed 
principle  that  the  book  of  Nature  is  a  trustworthy  com- 
mentary in  the  study  of  theological  and  revealed  truths,  so 
far  as  they  affect  or  are  affected  by  science  ;  he  suffered 
martyrdom  when  he  proclaimed  the  fact  that  God's  laws, 
as  they  now  stand,  had  been  instituted  without  deference 
to  the  preconceived  notions  of  the  most  ignorant  of  men. 
Bruno  had  a  few  years  earlier  (1600)  been  burned  at  the 
stake  for  a  similar  offense. 

Galileo  was  perhaps  the  first,  too,  to  combine  invariably 
in  application  the  idea  of  Plato,  the  philosophy  of  Aris- 
totle, and  the  methods  of  modern  experimentation,  to  form 
the  now  universal  scientific  method  of  experimental  philos- 
ophy. He  showed  plainly  how  the  grouping  of  ascertained 
facts,  in  natural  sequence,  leads  to  the  revelation  of  the  law 
of  that  sequence,  and  indicated  the  existence  of  a  principle 
which  is  now  known  as  the  law  of  continuity — the  law  that 
in  all  the  operations  of  Nature  there  is  to  be  seen  an  un- 
broken chain  of  effect  leading  from  the  present  back  into  a 
known  or  an  unknown  past,  toward  a  cause  which  may  or 
may  not  be  determinable  by  science  or  known  to  history. 

Galileo,  the  Italian,  was  worthily  matched  by  Newton, 
the  prince  of  English  philosophers.  The  science  of  theo- 
retical mechanics  was  hardly  beginning  to  assume  the  posi- 


THE   HISTORY  OF  ITS   GROWTH.  429 

tion  which  it  was  afterward  given  among  the  sciences  ;  and 
the  grand  work  of  collating  facts  already  ascertained,  and 
of  definitely  stating  principles  which  had  previously  been 
vaguely  recognized,  was  splendidly  done  by  Newton.  The 
needs  of  physical  astronomy  urged  this  work  upon  him. 

Da  Vinci  had,  in  the  latter  half  of  the  fifteenth  century, 
summarized  as  much  of  the  statics  of  mechanical  philosophy 
as  had,  up  to  his  time,  been  given  shape  ;  he  also  rewrote 
and  added  very  much  to  what  was  known  on  the  subject  of 
friction,  and  enunciated  its  laws.  He  had  evidently  a  good 
idea  of  the  principle  of  "  virtual  velocities,"  that  simple 
case  of  equivalence  of  work,  in  a  connected  system,  which 
has  done  such  excellent  service  since  ;  and  with  his  mechan- 
ical philosophy  this  versatile  engineer  and  artist  curiously 
mingled  much  of  physical  science.  Then  Stevinus,  the 
"  brave  engineer  of  Bruges,"  a  hundred  years  later  (1586), 
alternating  office  and  field  work,  somewhat  after  the  man- 
ner of  the  engineer  of  to-day,  wrote  a  treatise  on  mechanics, 
which  showed  the  value  of  practical  experience  and  judg- 
ment in  even  scientific  work.  And  thus  the  path  had  been 
cleared  for  Newton. 

Meantime,  also,  Kepler  had  hit  upon  the  true  relations 
of  the  distances  of  the  planets  and  their  periodic  times, 
after  spending  half  a  generation  in  blindly  groping  for  them, 
thus  furnishing  those  great  landmarks  of  fact  in  the  me- 
chanics of  astronomy  ;  and  Galileo  had  enunciated  the  laws 
of  motion.  Thus  the  foundation  of  the  science  of  dynam- 
ics, as  distinguished  from  statics,  was  laid,  and  the  begin- 
ning was  made  of  that  later  science  of  energetics,  of  which 
the  philosophy  of  the  steam-engine  is  so  largely  constituted. 

Hooke,  Huyghens,  and  others,  had  already  seen  some  of 
the  principal  consequences  of  these  laws  ;  but  it  remained  for 
Newton  to  enunciate  them  with  the  precision  of  a  true  mathe- 
matician, and  to  base  upon  them  a  system  of  dynamical  laws, 
which,  complemented  by  his  announcement  of  the  existence 
of  the  force  of  gravitation,  and  his  statement  of  its  laws, 


430  THE  PHILOSOPHY   OF  THE   STEAM-ENGINE. 

gave  a  firm  basis  for  all  that  the  astronomer  has  since  done 
in  those  quantitative  determinations  of  size,  weight,  and  dis- 
tance, and  of  the  movements  of  the  heavenly  bodies,  which 
compel  the  wonder  and  admiration  of  mankind. 

The  Arabians  and  Greeks  had  noticed  that  the  direction 
taken  by  a  body  falling  under  the  action  of  gravitation  was 
directly  toward  the  centre  of  the  earth,  wherever  its  fall 
might  occur  ;  Galileo  had  shown,  by  his  experiments  at 
Pisa,  that  the  velocity  of  fall,  second  after  second,  varied 
as  the  numbers  1,  3,  5,  7,  9,  etc.,  and  that  the  distances 
varied  as  the  squares  of  the  total  periods  of  time  during 
which  the  body  was  falling,  and  that  it  was,  in  British 
feet,  very  nearly  sixteen  times  the  square  of  that  time  in 
seconds.  Kepler  had  proved  that  the  movements  of  the 
heavenly  bodies  were  just  such  as  would  occur  under  the 
action  of  central  attractive  forces  and  of  centrifugal  force. 

Putting  all  these  things  together,  Newton  was  led  to 
believe  that  there  existed  a  "  force  of  gravity,"  due  to  the 
attraction,  by  the  great  mass  of  the  earth,  of  its  own  parti- 
cles and  of  neighboring  bodies,  like  the  moon,  of  which 
force  the  influence  extended  as  far,  at  least,  as  the  latter. 
He  calculated  the  motion  of  the  earth's  satellite,  on  the 
assumption  that  his  theory  and  the  then  accepted  measure- 
ments of  the  earth's  dimensions  were  correct,  and  obtained 
a  roughly  approximate  result.  Later,  in  1679,  he  revised 
his  calculations,  using  Picard's  more  accurate  determina- 
tion of  the  dimensions  of  the  earth,  and  obtained  a  result 
which  precisely  tallied  with  careful  measurements,,  made  by 
the  astronomers,  of  the  moon's  motion. 

The  science  of  mechanics  had  now,  with  the  publication 
of  Newton's  "  Principia,"  become  thoroughly  consistent  and 
logically  complete,  so  far  as  was  possible  without  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  principles  of  energetics  ;  and  Newton's  enun- 
ciations of  the  laws  of  motion,  concise  and  absolutely  per- 
fect as  they  still  seem,  were  the  basis  of  the  whole  science 
of  dynamics,  as  applied  to  bodies  moving  freely  under  the 


THE   HISTORY   OF   ITS   GROWTH.  431 

action  of  applied  forces,  either  constant  or  variable.  They 
are  as  perfect  a  basis  for  that  science  as  are  the  primary 
principles  of  geometry  for  the  whole  beautiful  structure 
which  is  built  up  on  them. 

The  three  perfect  qualitative  expressions  of  dynamical 
law  are  : 

1.  Every  free  body  continues  in  the  state  in  which  it 
may  be,  whether  of  rest  or  of  rectilinear  uniform  motion, 
until  compelled  to  deviate  from  that  state  by  impressed 
forces. 

2.  Change  of  motion  is  proportional  to  the  force  im- 
pressed, and  in  the  direction  of  the  right  line  in  which  that 
force  acts. 

3.  Action  is  always  opposed  by  reaction  ;    action  and 
reaction  are  equal,  and  in  directly  contrary  directions. 

We  may  add  to  these  principles  a  definition  of  a  force, 
which  is  equally  and  absolutely  complete  : 

Force  is  that  which  produces,  or  tends  to  produce,  mo- 
tion, or  change  of  motion,  in  bodies.  It  is  measured  stat- 
ically by  the  weight  that  will  counterpoise  it,  or  by  the 
pressure  which  it  will  produce,  and  dynamically  by  the  ve- 
locity which  it  will  produce,  acting  in  the  unit  of  time  on 
the  unit  of  mass. 

The  quantitative  determinations  of  dynamic  effects  of 
forces  are  always  readily  made  when  it  is  remembered  that 
the  effect  of  a  force  equal  to  its  own  weight,  when  the  body 
is  free  to  move,  is  to  produce  in  one  second  a  velocity  of 
32.2  feet  per  second,  which  quantity  is  the  unit  of  dynamic 
measurement. 

Work  is  the  product  of  the  resistance  met  in  any  in- 
stance of  the  exertion  of  a  force,  into  the  distance  through 
which  that  force  overcomes  the  resistance. 

Energy  is  the  work  which  a  body  is  capable  of  doing, 
by  its  weight  or  inertia,  under  given  conditions.  The  ener- 
gy of  a  falling  body,  or  of  a  flying  shot,  is  about  -fa  its 
weight  multiplied  by  the  square  of  its  velocity,  or,  which 
20 


432  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  THE   STEAM-ENGIXE. 

is  the  same  thing,  the  product  of  its  weight  into  the  height 
of  fall  or  height  due  its  velocity.  These  principles  and 
definitions,  with  the  long-settled  definitions  of  the  primary 
ideas  of  space  and  time,  were  all  that  were  needed  to  lead 
the  way  to  that  grandest  of  all  physical  generalizations, 
the  doctrine  of  the  persistence  or  conservation  of  all  energy, 
and  to  its  corollary  declaring  the  equivalence  of  all  forms 
of  energy,  and  also  to  the  experimental  demonstration  of 
the  transformability  of  energy  from  one  mode  of  existence 
to  another,  and  its  universal  existence  in  the  various  modes 
of  motion  of  bodies  and  of  their  molecules. 

Experimental  physical  science  had  hardly  become  ac- 
knowledged as  the  only  and  the  proper  method  of  acquiring 
knowledge  of  natural  phenomena  at  the  time  of  Newton  ; 
but  it  soon  became  a  generally  accepted  principle.  In 
physics,  Gilbert  had  made  valuable  investigations  before 
Newton,  and  Galileo's  experiments  at  Pisa  had  been  exam- 
ples of  similarly  useful  research.  In  chemistry,  it  was  only 
when,  a  century  later,  Lavoisier  showed  by  his  splendid  ex- 
ample what  could  be  done  by  the  skillful  and  intelligent 
use  of  quantitative  measurements,  and  mrde  the  balance 
the  chemist's  most  important  tool,  that  a  science  was  formed 
comprehending  all  the  facts  and  laws  of  chemical  change 
and  molecular  combination.  We  have  already  seen  how 
astronomy  and  mathematics  together  led  philosophers  to 
the  creation  and  the  study  of  what  finally  became  the  science 
of  mechanics,  when  experiment  and  observation  were  finally 
brought  to  their  aid.  "VVe  can  now  see  how,  in  all  these 
physical  sciences,  four  primitive  ideas  are  comprehended  : 
matter,  force,  motion,  and  space — which  latter  two  terms 
include  all  relations  of  position. 

Based  on  these  notions,  the  science  of  mechanics  com- 
prehends four  sections,  which  are  of  general  application  in 
the  study  of  all  physical  phenomena.  These  are  : 

Statics,  which  treats  of  the  action  and  effect  of  forces. 

J&nematics,  which  treats  of  relations  of  motion  simply. 


THE   HISTORY   OF   ITS   GROWTH.  433 

Dynamics,  or  kinetics,  which  treats  of  simple  motion  as 
an  effect  of  the  action  of  forces. 

Energetics,  which  treats  of  modifications  of  energy 
under  the  action  of  forces,  and  of  its  transformation  from 
one  mode  of  manifestation  to  another,  and  from  one  body 
to  another. 

Under  the  latter  of  these  four  divisions  of  mechanical 
philosophy  is  comprehended  that  latest  of  the  minor  sci- 
ences, of  which  the  heat-engines,  and  especially  the  steam- 
engine,  illustrate  the  most  important  applications — Thermo- 
dynamics. This  science  is  simply  a  wider  generalization 
of  principles  which,  as  we  have  seen,  have  been  established 
one  at  a  time,  and  by  philosophers  widely  separated  both 
geographically  and  historically,  by  both  space  and  time, 
and  which  have  been  slowly  aggregated  to  form  one  after 
another  of  the  sciences,  and  out  of  which,  as  we  now  are 
beginning  to  see,  we  are  slowly  evolving  wider  generaliza- 
tions, and  thus  tending  toward  a  condition  of  scientific 
knowledge  which  renders  more  and  more  probable  the  truth 
of  Cicero's  declaration  :  "  One  eternal  and  immutable  law 
embraces  all  things  and  all  times."  At  the  basis  of  the 
whole  science  of  energetics  lies  a  principle  which  was  enun- 
ciated before  Science  had  a  birthplace  or  a  name  : 

All  that  exists,  whether  matter  or  force,  and  in  what- 
ever form,  is  indestructible,  except  by  the  Infinite  Power 
which  has  created  it. 

That  matter  is  indestructible  by  finite  power  became 
admitted  as  soon  as  the  chemists,  led  by  their  great  teacher 
Lavoisier,  began  to  apply  the  balance,  and  were  thus  able 
to  show  that  in  all  chemical  change  there  occurs  only  a 
modification  of  form  or  of  combination  of  elements,  and 
no  loss  of  matter  ever  takes  place.  The  "  persistence  "  of 
energy  was  a  later  discovery,  consequent  largely  upon  the 
experimental  determination  of  the  convertibility  of  heat- 
energy  into  other  forms  and  into  mechanical  work,  for 
which  we  are  indebted  to  Rumford  and  Davy,  and  to  the 


434 


THE  PHILOSOPHY   OF  THE   STEAM-ENGINE. 


determination  of  the  quantivalence  anticipated  by  Newton, 
shown  and  calculated  approximately  by  Colding  and  Mayer, 
and  measured  with  great  probable  accuracy  by  Joule. 

The  great  fact  of  the  conservation  of  energy  was  loosely 
stated  by  Newton,  who  asserted  that  the  work  of  friction 


Benjamin  Thompson,  Count  Rumford. 

and  the  vis  viva  of  the  system  or  body  arrested  by  friction 
were  equivalent.  In  1798,  Benjamin  Thompson,  Count 
Rumford,  an  American  who  was  then  in  the  Bavarian  ser- 
vice, presented  a  paper1  to  the  Royal  Society  of  Great 
Britain,  in  which  he  stated  the  results  of  an  experiment 
which  he  had  recently  made,  proving  the  immateriality  of 
heat  and  the  transformation  of  mechanical  into  heat  energy. 

1  "Philosophical  Transactions,"  1798. 


THE   HISTORY   OF  ITS   GROWTH.  435 

This  paper  is  of  very  great  historical  interest,  as  the  now 
accepted  doctrine  of  the  persistence  of  energy  is  a  general- 
ization which  arose  out  of  a  series  of  investigations,  the 
most  important  of  which  are  those  which  resulted  in  the 
determination  of  the  existence  of  a  definite  quantivalent 
relation  between  these  two  forms  of  energy  and  a  measure- 
ment of  its  value,  now  known  as  the  "  mechanical  equiva- 
lent of  heat."  His  experiment  consisted  in  the  determina- 
tion of  the  quantity  of  heat  produced  by  the  boring  of  a 
cannon  at  the  arsenal  at  Munich. 

Rumford,  after  showing  that  this  heat  could  not  have 
been  derived  from  any  of  the  surrounding  objects,  or  by 
compression  of  the  materials  employed  or  acted  upon,  says  : 
"  It  appears  to  me  extremely  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to 
form  any  distinct  idea  of  anything  capable  of  being  excited 
and  communicated  in  the  manner  that  heat  was  excited  and 
communicated  in  these  experiments,  except  it  be  motion."  l 
He  then  goes  on  to  urge  a  zealous  and  persistent  investiga- 
tion of  the  laws  which  govern  this  motion.  He  estimates 
the  heat  produced  by  a  power  which  he  states  could  easily 
be  exerted  by  one  horse,  and  makes  it  equal  to  the  "  com- 
bustion of  nine  wax  candles,  each  three-quarters  of  an  inch 
in  diameter,"  and  equivalent  to  the  elevation  of  "25.68 
pounds  of  ice-cold  water"  to  the  boiling-point,  or  4,784.4 
heat-units.8  The  time  was  stated  at  "  150  minutes."  Tak- 
ing the  actual  power  of  Rumf  ord's  Bavarian  "  one  horse  " 
as  the  most  probable  figure,  25,000  pounds  raised  one  foot 
high  per  minute,3  this  gives  the  "mechanical  equivalent" 

1  This  idea  was  not  by  any  means  original  with  Rumford.  Bacon  seems 
to  have  had  the  same  idea ;  and  Locke  says,  explicitly  enough :  "  Heat  is  a 
very  brisk  agitation  of  the  insensible  parts  of  the  object  ....  so  that 
what  in  our  sensation  is  heat,  in  the  object  is  nothing  but  motion." 

1  The  British  heat-unit  is  the  quantity  of  heat  required  to  heat  one 
pound  of  water  1°  Fahr.  from  the  temperature  of  maximum  density. 

3  Rankine  gives  25,920  foot-pounds  per  minute — or  432  per  second — 
for  the  average  draught-horse  in  Great  Britain,  which  is  probably  too  high 


436  THE   PHILOSOPHY   OF   THE   STEAM-ENGINE. 

of  the  foot-pound  as  783.8  heat-units,  differing  but  1.5  per 
cent,  from  the  now  accepted  value. 

Had  Rumford  been  able  to  eliminate  all  losses  of  heat 
by  evaporation,  radiation,  and  conduction,  to  which  losses 
he  refers,  and  to  measure  the  power  exerted  with  accuracy, 
the  approximation  would  have  been  still  closer.  Rumford 
thus  made  the  experimental  discovery  of  the  real  nature 
of  heat,  proving  it  to  be  a  form  of  energy,  and,  publishing 
the  fact  a  half -century  before  the  now  standard  determi- 
nations were  made,  gave  us  a  very  close  approximation  to 
the  value  of  the  heat-equivalent.  Rumford  also  observed 
that  the  heat  generated  was  "exactly  proportional  to  the 
force  with  which  the  two  surfaces  are  pressed  together, 
and  to  the  rapidity  of  the  friction,"  which  is  a  simple  state- 
ment of  equivalence  between  the  quantity  of  work  done,  or 
energy  expended,  and  the  quantity  of  heat  produced.  This 
was  the  first  great  step  toward  the  formation  of  a  Science 
of  Thermo-dynamics.  Rumford's  work  was  the  corner-stone 
of  the  science. 

Sir  Humphry  Davy,  a  little  later  (1799),  published  the 
details  of  an  experiment  which  conclusively  confirmed  these 
deductions  from  Rumford's  work.  He  rubbed  two  pieces 
of  ice  together,  and  found  that  they  were  melted  by  the 
friction  so  produced.  He  thereupon  concluded  :  "  It  is  evi- 
dent that  ice  by  friction  is  converted  into  water.  .  .  .  Fric- 
tion, consequently,  does  not  diminish  the  capacity  of  bodies 
for  heat." 

Bacon  and  Newton,  and  Hooke  and  Boyle,  seem  to 
have  anticipated — long  before  Rumford's  time — all  later 
philosophers,  in  admitting  the  probable  correctness  of  that 
modern  dynamical,  or  vibratory,  theory  of  heat  which  con- 
siders it  a  mode  of  motion  ;  but  Davy,  in  1812,  for  the  first 


for  Bavaria.  The  engineer's  "  horse-power "  —  33,000  foot-pounds  per 
minute — is  far  in  excess  of  the  average  power  of  even  a  good  draught- 
horse,  which  latter  is  sometimes  taken  as  two-thirds  the  former. 


THE   HISTORY   OF  ITS   GROWTH.  437 

time,  stated  plainly  and  precisely  the  real  nature  of  heat, 
saying  :  "  The  immediate  cause  of  the  phenomenon  of  heat, 
then,  is  motion,  and  the  laws  of  its  communication  are  pre- 
cisely the  same  as  the  laws  of  the  communication  of  mo- 
tion." The  basis  of  this  opinion  was  the  same  that  had 
previously  been  noted  by  Rumford. 

So  much  having  been  determined,  it  became  at  once  evi- 
dent that  the  determination  of  the  exact  value  of  the  me- 
chanical equivalent  of  heat  was  simply  a  matter  of  experi- 
ment ;  and  during  the  succeeding  generation  this  determi- 
nation was  made,  with  greater  or  less  exactness,  by  several 
distinguished  men.  It  was  also  equally  evident  that  the 
laws  governing  the  new  science  of  thermo-dynamics  could 
be  mathematically  expressed. 

Fourier  had,  before  the  date  last  given,  applied  mathe- 
matical analysis  in  the  solution  of  problems  relating  to  the 
transfer  of  heat  without  transformation,  and  his  "  Theorie 
de  la  Chaleur"  contained  an  exceedingly  beautiful  treat- 
ment of  the  subject.  Sadi  Carnot,  twelve  years  later  (1824), 
published  his  "  Reflexions  sur  la  Puissance  Motrice  du  Feu," 
in  which  he  made  a  first  attempt  to  express  the  principles 
involved  in  the  application  of  heat  to  the  production  of 
mechanical  effect.  Starting  with  the  axiom  that  a  body 
which,  having  passed  through  a  series  of  conditions  modi- 
fying its  temperature,  is  returned  to  "  its  primitive  physical 
state  as  to  density,  temperature,  and  molecular  constitu- 
tion," must  contain  the  same  quantity  of  heat  which  it  had 
contained  originally,  he  shows  that  the  efficiency  of  heat- 
engines  is  to  be  determined  by  carrying  the  working  fluid 
through  a  complete  cycle,  beginning  and  ending  with  the 
same  set  of  conditions.  Carnot  had  not  then  accepted  the 
vibratory  theory  of  heat,  and  consequently  was  led  into 
some  errors  ;  but,  as  will  be  seen  hereafter,  the  idea  just 
expressed  is  one  of  the  most  important  details  of  a  theory 
of  the  steam-engine. 

Seguin,  who  has  already  been  mentioned  as  one  of  the 


438  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  THE  STEAM-ENGINE. 

first  to  use  the  fire-tubular  boiler  for  locomotive  engines, 
published  in  1839  a  work,  "  Sur  Plnfluence  des  Cheniins  de 
Fer,"  in  which  he  gave  the  requisite  data  for  a  rough  de- 
termination of  the  value  of  the  mechanical  equivalent  of 
heat,  although  he  does  not  himself  deduce  that  value. 

Dr.  Julius  R.  Mayer,  three  years  later  (1842),  pub- 
lished the  results  of  a  very  ingenious  and  quite  closely  ap- 
proximate calculation  of  the  heat-equivalent,  basing  his 
estimate  upon  the  work  necessary  to  compress  air,  and  on 
the  specific  heats  of  the  gas,  the  idea  being  that  the  work 
of  compression  is  the  equivalent  of  the  heat  generated. 
Seguin  had  taken  the  converse  operation,  taking  the  loss  of 
heat  of  expanding  steam  as  the  equivalent  of  the  work  done 
by  the  steam  while  expanding.  The  latter  also  was  the 
first  to  point  out  the  fact,  afterward  experimentally  proved 
by  Him,  that  the  fluid  exhausted  from  an  engine  should 
heat  the  water  of  condensation  less  than  would  the  same 
fluid  when  originally  taken  into  the  engine. 

A  Danish  engineer,  Colding,  at  about  the  same  time 
(1843),  published  the  results  of  experiments  made  to  deter- 
mine the  same  quantity  ;  but  the  best  and  most  extended 
work,  and  that  which  is  now  almost  universally  accepted  as 
standard,  was  done  by  a  British  investigator. 

James  Prescott  Joule  commenced  the  experimental  in- 
vestigations which  have  made  him  famous  at  some  time 
previous  to  1843,  at  which  date  he  published,  in  the 
Philosophical  Magazine,  his  earliest  method.  His  first  de- 
termination gave  770  foot-pounds.  During  the  succeeding 
five  or  six  years  Joule  repeated  his  work,  adopting  a  con- 
siderable variety  of  methods,  and  obtaining  very  variable 
results.  One  method  was  to  determine  the  heat  produced 
by  forcing  air  through  tubes  ;  another,  and  his  usual  plan, 
was  to  turn  a  paddle-wheel  by  a  definite  power  in  a  known 
weight  of  water.  He  finally,  in  1849,  concluded  these 
researches. 

The  method  of  calculating  the  mechanical  equivalent  of 


THE   HISTORY   OF  ITS   GROWTH.  439 

heat  which  was  adopted  by  Dr.  Mayer,  of  Heilbronn,  is  as 
beautiful  as  it  is  ingenious  :  Conceive  two  equal  portions  of 
atmospheric  air  to  be  inclosed,  at  the  same  temperature — as 
at  the  freezing-point — in  vessels  each  capable  of  containing 
one  cubic  foot ;  communicate  heat  to  both,  retaining  the 


James  Prescott  Joule. 

one  portion  at  the  original  volume,  and  permitting  the  other 
to  expand  under  a  constant  pressure  equal  to  that  of  the 
atmosphere.  In  each  vessel  there  will  be  inclosed  0.08073 
pound,  or  1.29  ounce,  of  air.  When,  at  the  same  tempera- 
ture, the  one  has  doubled  its  pressure  and  the  other  has 
doubled  its  volume,  each  will  be  at  a  temperature  of  525.2° 
Fahr.,  or  274°  C.,  and  each  will  have  double  the  original 
temperature,  as  measured  on  the  absolute  scale  from  the 


440  THE   PHILOSOPHY   OF   THE   STEAM-ENGINE. 

zero  of  heat-motion.  But  the  one  will  have  absorbed  but 
6f  British  thermal  units,  while  the  other  will  have  absorbed 
9£.  In  the  first  case,  all  of  this  heat  will  have  been  em- 
ployed in  simply  increasing  the  temperature  of  the  air  ;  in 
the  second  case,  the  temperature  of  the  air  will  have  been 
equally  increased,  and,  besides,  a  certain  amount  of  work— - 
2,116.3  foot-pounds — must  have  been  done  in  overcoming 
the  resistance  of  the  air  ;  it  is  to  this  latter  action  that  we 
must  debit  the  additional  heat  which  has  disappeared.  Now, 

2  116  3 

—t     '    =  770  foot-pounds  per  heat-unit — almost  precisely 

*<r 

the  value  derived  from  Joule's  experiments.  Had  Mayer's 
measurement  been  absolutely  accurate,  the  result  of  his 
calculation  would  have  been  an  exact  determination  of  the 
heat-equivalent,  provided  no  heat  is,  in  this  case,  lost  by 
internal  work. 

Joule's  most  probably  accurate  measure  was  obtained 
by  the  use  of  a  paddle-wheel  revolving  in  water  or  other 
fluid.  A  copper  vessel  contained  a  carefully  weighed  por- 
tion of  the  fluid,  and  at  the  bottom  was  a  step,  on  which 
stood  a  vertical  spindle  carrying  the  paddle-wheel.  This 
wheel  was  turned  by  cords  passing  over  nicely-balanced 
grooved  wheels,  the  axles  of  which  were  carried  on  friction- 
rollers.  Weights  hung  at  the  ends  of  these  cords  were 
the  moving  forces.  Falling  to  the  ground,  they  exerted  an 
easily  and  accurately  determinable  amount  of  work,  Wx  Jf, 
which  turned  the  paddle-wheel  a  definite  number  of  revo- 
lutions, warming  the  water  by  the  production  of  an  amount 
of  heat  exactly  equivalent  to  the  amount  of  work  done. 
After  the  weight  had  been  raised  and  this  operation  re- 
peated a  sufficient  number  of  times,  the  quantity  of  heat 
communicated  to  the  water  was  carefully  determined  and 
compared  with  the  amount  of  work  expended  in  its  devel- 
opment. Joule  also  used  a  pair  of  disks  of  iron  rubbing 
against  each  other  in  a  vessel  of  mercury,  and  measured 
the  heat  thus  developed  by  friction,  comparing  it  with  the 


THE   HISTORY   OF   ITS  GROWTH.  441 

work  done.  The  average  of  forty  experiments  with  water 
gave  the  equivalent  772.692  foot-pounds  ;  fifty  with  mer- 
cury gave  774.083  ;  twenty  with  cast-iron  gave  774.987 — 
the  temperature  of  the  apparatus  being  from  55°  to  60° 
Fahr. 

Joule  also  determined,  by  experiment,  the  fact  that  the 
expansion  of  air  or  other  gas  without  doing  work  produces 
no  change  of  temperature,  which  fact  is  predicable  from 
the  now  known  principles  of  thermo-dynamics.  He  stated 
the  results  of  his  researches  relating  to  the  mechanical 
equivalent  of  heat  as  follows  : 

1.  The  heat  produced  by  the  friction  of  bodies,  whether 
solid  or  liquid,  is  always  proportional  to  the  quantity  of 
work  expended. 

2.  The  quantity  required  to  increase  the  temperature  of 
a  pound  of  water  (weighed  in  vacuo  at  55°  to  60°  Fahr.)  by 
one  degree  requires  for  its  production  the  expenditure  of  a 
force  measured  by  the  fall  of  772  pounds  from  a  height  of 
one  foot.     This  quantity  is  now  generally  called  "  Joule's 
equivalent." 

During  this  series  of  experiments,  Joule  also  deduced 
the  position  of  the  "  absolute  zero,"  the  point  at  which  heat- 
motion  ceases,  and  stated  it  to  be  about  480°  Fahr.  below 
the  freezing-point  of  water,  which  is  not  very  far  from  the 
probably  true  value,  —493.2°  Fahr.  (-273°  C.),  as  deduced 
afterward  from  more  precise  data. 

The  result  of  these,  and  of  the  later  experiments  of 
Him  and  others,  has  been  the  admission  of  the  following 
principle  : 

Heat-energy  and  mechanical  energy  are  mutually  con- 
vertible and  have  a  definite  equivalence,  the  British  thermal 
unit  being  equivalent  to  772  foot-pounds  of  work,  and  the 
metric  calorie  to  423.55,  or,  as  usually  taken,  424  kilogram- 
metres.  The  exact  measure  is  not  fully  determined,  how- 
ever. 

It  has  now  become  generally  admitted  that  all  forms  of 


442  THE   PHILOSOPHY   OF  THE   STEAM-ENGINE. 

energy  due  to  physical  forces  are  mutually  convertible  with 
a  definite  quantivalence  ;  and  it  is  not  yet  determined  that 
even  vital  and  mental  energy  do  not  fall  within  the  same 
great  generalization.  This  quantivalence  is  the  sole  basis 
of  the  science  of  Energetics. 

The  study  of  this  science  has  been,  up  to  the  present 
time,  principally  confined  to  that  portion  which  compre- 
hends the  relations  of  heat  and  mechanical  energy.  In  the 
study  of  this  department  of  the  science,  thermo-dynamics, 
Rankine,  Clausius,  Thompson,  Him,  and  others  have  ac- 
quired great  distinction.  In  the  investigations  which  have 
been  made  by  these  authorities,  the  methods  of  transfer  of 
heat  and  of  modification  of  physical  state  in  gases  and  va- 
pors, when  a  change  occurs  in  the  form  of  the  energy  con- 
sidered, have  been  the  subjects  of  especial  study. 

According  to  the  law  of  Boyle  and  Marriotte,  the  ex- 
pansion of  such  fluids  follows  a  law  expressed  graphical- 
ly by  the  hyperbola,  and  algebraically  by  the  expression 
PV*  =  A,  in  which,  with  unchanging  temperature,  x  is  equal 
to  1.  One  of  the  first  and  most  evident  deductions  from  the 
principles  of  the  equivalence  of  the  several  forms  of  energy 
is  that  the  value  of  x  must  increase  as  the  energy  expended 
in  expansion  increases.  This  change  is  very  marked  with 
a  vapor  like  steam — which,  expanded  without  doing  work, 
has  an  exponent  less  than  unity,  and  which,  when  doing 
work  by  expanding  behind  a  piston,  partially  condenses,  the 
value  of  x  increases  to,  in  the  case  of  steam,  1.111  according 
to  Rankine,  or,  probably  more  correctly,  to  1.135  or  more, 
according  to  Zeuner  and  Grashof.  This  fact  has  an  im- 
portant bearing  upon  the  theory  of  the  steam-engine,  and 
we  are  indebted  to  Rankine  for  the  first  complete  treatise 
on  that  theory  as  thus  modified. 

Prof.  Rankine  began  his  investigations  as  early  as  1849, 
at  which  time  he  proposed  his  theory  of  the  molecular  con- 
stitution of  matter,  now  well  known  as  the  theory  of  molec- 
ular vortices.  He  supposes  a  system  of  whirling  rings  or 


THE   HISTORY   OF   ITS   GROWTH. 


443 


vortices  of  heat-motion,  and  bases  his  philosophy  upon  that 
hypothesis,  supposing  sensible  heat  to  be  employed  in  chang- 
ing the  velocity  of  the  particles,  latent  heat  to  be  the  work 
of  altering  the  dimensions  of  the  orbits,  and  considering  the 
effort  of  each  vortex  to  enlarge  its  boundaries  to  be  due  to 


Prof.  W.  J.  M.  Rankine. 

centrifugal  force.  He  distinguished  between  real  and  ap- 
parent specific  heat,  and  showed  that  the  two  methods  of 
absorption  of  heat,  in  the  case  of  the  heating  of  a  fluid,  that 
due  to  simple  increase  of  temperature  and  that  due  to  in- 
crease of  volume,  should  be  distinguished  ;  he  proposed,  for 
the  latter  quantity,  the  term  heat -potential,  and  for  the  sum 
of  the  two,  the  name  of  thermo-dynamic  function. 

Carnot  had  stated,  a  quarter  of  a  century  earlier,  that 
the  efficiency  of  a  heat-engine  is  a  function  of  the  two  limits 
of  temperature  between  which  the  machine  is  worked,  and 


444  THE  PHILOSOPHY   OF   THE   STEAM-ENGINE. 

not  of  the  nature  of  the  working  substance — an  assertion 
which  is  quite  true  where  the  material  does  not  change  its 
physical  state  while  working.  Rankine  now  deduced  that 
"  general  equation  of  thermo-dynaraics "  which  expresses 
algebraically  the  relations  between  heat  and  mechanical 
energy,  when  energy  is  changing  from  the  one  state  to  the 
other,  in  which  equation  is  given,  for  any  assumed  change 
of  the  fluids,  the  quantity  of  heat  transformed.  He  showed 
that  steam  in  the  engine  must  be  partially  liquefied  by  the 
process  of  expanding  against  a  resistance,  and  proved  that 
the  total  heat  of  a  perfect  gas  must  increase  with  rise  of 
temperature  at  a  rate  proportional  to  its  specific  heat  under 
constant  pressure. 

Rankine,  in  1850,  showed  the  inaccuracy  of  the  then 
accepted  value,  0.2G69,  of  the  specific  heat  of  air  under  con- 
stant pressure,  and  calculated  its  value  as  0.24.  Three 
years  later,  the  experiments  of  Regnault  gave  the  value 
0.2379,  and  Rankine,  recalculating  it,  made  it  0.2377.  In 
1851,  Rankine  continued  his  discussion  of  the  subject,  and, 
by  his  own  theory,  corroborated  Thompson's  law  giving  the 
efficiency  of  a  perfect  heat-engine  as  the  quotient  of  the 
range  of  working  temperature  to  the  temperature  of  the 
upper  limit,  measured  from  the  absolute  zero. 

During  this  period,  Clausius,  the  German  physicist,  was 
working  on  the  same  subject,  taking  quite  a  different 
method,  studying  the  mechanical  effects  of  heat  in  gases, 
and  deducing,  almost  simultaneously  with  Rankine  (1850), 
the  general  equation  which  lies  at  the  beginning  of  the 
theory  of  the  equivalence  of  heat  and  mechanical  energy. 
He  found  that  the  probable  zero  of  heat-motion  is  at  such  a 
point  that  the  Carnot  function  must  be  approximately  the 
reciprocal  of  the  "  absolute  "  temperature,  as  measured  with 
the  air  thermometer,  or,  stated  exactly,  that  quantity  as  de- 
termined by  a  perfect  gas  thermometer.  He  confirmed  Ran- 
kine's  conclusion  relative  to  the  liquefaction  of  saturated 
vapors  when  expanding  against  resistance,  and,  in  1854, 


THE   HISTORY   OF  ITS   GROWTH.  445 

adapted  Carnot's  principle  to  the  new  theory,  and  showed 
that  his  idea  of  the  reversible  engine  and  of  the  performance 
of  a  cycle  in  testing  the  changes  produced  still  held  good, 
notwithstanding  Carnot's  ignorance  of  the  true  nature  of 
heat.  Clausius  also  gave  us  the  extremely  important  prin- 
ciple :  It  is  impossible  for  a  self-acting  machine,  unaided,  to 
transfer  heat  from  one  body  at  a  low  temperature  to  an- 
other having  a  higher  temperature. 

Simultaneously  with  Rankine  and  Clausius,  Prof.  Wil- 
liam Thomson  was  engaged  in  researches  in  thermo-dynam- 
ics  (1850).  He  was  the  first  to  express  the  principle  of 
Carnot  as  adapted  to  the  modern  theory  by  Clausius  in  the 
now  generally  quoted  propositions  : 1 

1.  When  equal  mechanical  effects  are  produced  by  pure- 
ly thermal  action,  equal  quantities  of  heat  are  produced  or 
disappear  by  transformation  of  energy. 

2.  If,  in  any  engine,  a  reversal  effects  complete  inversion 
of  all  the  physical  and  mechanical  details  of  its  operation, 
it  is  a  perfect  engine,  and  produces  maximum  effect  with 
any  given  quantity  of  heat  and  with  any  fixed  limits  of 
range  of  temperature. 

William  Thomson  and  James  Thompson  showed,  among 
the  earliest  of  their  deductions  from  these  principles,  the  fact, 
afterward  confirmed  by  experiment,  that  the  melting-point 
of  ice  should  be  lowered  by  pressure  0.0135°  Fahr.  for  each 
atmosphere,  and  that  a  body  which  contracts  while  being 
heated  will  always  have  its  temperature  decreased  by  sud- 
den compression.  Thomson  applied  the  principles  of  ener- 
getics in  extended  investigations  in  the  department  of  elec- 
tricity, while  Helmholtz  carried  some  of  the  same  methods 
into  his  favorite  study  of  acoustics. 

The  application  of  now  well-settled  principles  to  the 
physics  of  gases  led  to  many  interesting  and  important  de- 

1  Vide  Tail's  admirable  "Sketch  of  Thermodynamics,"  second  edition, 
Edinburgh,  1877. 


446  THE   PHILOSOPHY   OF   THE   STEAM-ENGINE. 

ductions  :  Clausius  explained  the  relations  between  the  vol- 
ume, density,  temperature,  and  pressure  of  gases,  and  their 
modifications ;  Maxwell  reestablished  the  experimentally 
determined  law  of  Dalton  and  Charles,  known  also  as  that 
of  Gay-Lussac  (1801),  which  asserts  that  all  masses  of  equal 
pressure,  volume,  and  temperature,  contain  equal  numbers 
of  molecules.  On  the  Continent  of  Europe,  also,  Him, 
Zeuner,  Grashof,  Tresca,  Laboulaye,  and  others  have,  dur- 
ing the  same  period  and  since,  continued  and  greatly  ex- 
tended these  theoretical  researches. 

During  all  this  time,  a  vast  amount  of  experimental 
work  has  also  been  done,  resulting  in  the  determination  of 
important  data  without  which  all  the  preceding  labor  would 
have  been  fruitless.  Of  those  who  have  engaged  in  such 
work,  Cagniard  de  la  Tour,  Andrews,  Regnault,  Him,  Fair- 
bairn  and  Tate,  Laboulaye,  Tresca,  and  a  few  others  have 
directed  their  researches  in  this  most  important  direction 
with  the  special  object  of  aiding  in  the  advancement  of  the 
new-born  sciences.  By  the  middle  of  the  present  century, 
the  time  which  we  are  now  studying,  this  set  of  data  was 
tolerably  complete.  Boyle  had,  two  hundred  years  before, 
discovered  and  published  the  law,  which  is  now  known  by 
his  name '  and  by  that  of  Marriotte,4  that  the  pressure  of  a 
gas  varies  inversely  as  its  volume  and  directly  as  its  density; 
Dr.  Black  and  James  Watt  discovered,  a  hundred  years 
later  (1760),  the  latent  heat  of  vapors,  and  Watt  determined 
the  method  of  expansion  of  steam  ;  Dalton,  in  England,  and 
Gay-Lussac,  in  France,  showed,  at  the  beginning  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  that  all  gaseous  fluids  are  expanded  by 
equal  fractions  of  their  volume  by  equal  increments  of  tem- 
perature ;  Watt  and  Robison  had  given  tables  of  the  elas- 
tic force  of  steam,  and  Gren  had  shown  that,  at  the  tem- 


1  "New  Experiments,  Physico-Mechanical,  etc.,  touching  the  Spring  of 
Air,"  1662. 

8  "De  la  Nature  de  1'Air,"  1676. 


THE   HISTORY   OF  ITS   GROWTH.  447 

perature  of  boiling  water,  the  pressure  of  steam  was  equal 
to  that  of  the  atmosphere  ;  Dalton,  Ure,  and  others  proved 
(1800-1818)  that  the  law  connecting  temperatures  and  press- 
ures of  steam  was  expressed  by  a  geometrical  ratio  ;  and 
Biot  had  already  given  an  approximate  formula,  when 
Southern  introduced  another,  which  is  still  in  use. 

The  French  Government  established  a  commission  in 
1823  to  experiment  with  a  view  to  the  institution  of  legis- 
lation regulating  the  working  of  steam-engines  and  boilers  ; 
and  this  commission,  MM.  de  Prony,  Arago,  Girard,  and 
Dulong,  determined  quite  accurately  the  temperatures  of 
steam  under  pressures  running  up  to  twenty-four  atmos- 
pheres, giving  a  formula  for  the  calculation  of  the  one 
quantity,  the  other  being  known.  Ten  years  later,  the  Gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States  instituted  similar  experiments 
under  the  direction  of  the  Franklin  Institute. 

The  marked  distinction  between  gases,  like  oxygen  and 
hydrogen,  and  condensible  vapors,  like  steam  and  carbonic 
acid,  had  been,  at  this  time,  shown  by  Cagniard  de  la  Tour, 
who,  in  1822,  studied  their  behavior  at  high  temperatures 
and  under  very  great  pressures.  He  found  that,  when  a 
vapor  was  confined  in  a  glass  tube  in  presence  of  the  same 
substance  in  the  liquid  state,  as  where  steam  and  water  were 
confined  together,  if  the  temperature  was  increased  to  a 
certain  definite  point,  the  whole  mass  suddenly  became  of 
uniform  character,  and  the  previously  existing  line  of  de- 
markation  vanished,  the  whole  mass  of  fluid  becoming,  as 
he  inferred,  gaseous.  It  was  at  about  this  time  that  Fara- 
day made  known  his  then  novel  experiments,  in  which  gases 
which  had  been  before  supposed  permanent  were  liquefied, 
simply  by  subjecting  them  to  enormous  pressures.  He  then 
also  first  stated  that,  above  certain  temperatures,  liquefac- 
tion of  vapors  was  impossible,  however  great  the  pressure. 

Faraday's  conclusion  was  justified  by  the  researches  of 
Dr.  Andrews,  who  has  since  most  successfully  extended  the 
investigation  commenced  by  Cagniard  de  la  Tour,  and  who  has 


448  THE  PHILOSOPHY   OF  THE   STEAM-ENGINE. 

shown  that,  at  a  certain  point,  which  he  calls  the  "  critical 
point,"  the  properties  of  the  two  states  of  the  fluid  fade  into 
each  other,  and  that,  at  that  point,  the  two  become  continu- 
ous. With  carbonic  acid,  this  occurs  at  75  atmospheres, 
about  1,125  pounds  per  square  inch,  a  pressure  which  would 
counterbalance  a  column  of  mercury  60  yards,  or  nearly  as 
many  metres,  high.  The  temperature  at  this  point  is  about 
90°  Fahr.,  or  31°  Cent.  For  ether,  the  temperature  is  370° 
Fahr.,  and  the  pressure  38  atmospheres  ;  for  alcohol,  they 
are  498°  Fahr.,  and  120  atmospheres  ;  and  for  bisulphide  of 
carbon,  505°  Fahr.,  and  67  atmospheres.  For  water,  the 
pressure  is  too  high  to  be  determined  ;  but  the  temperature 
is  about  775°  Fahr.,  or  413°  Cent. 

Donny  and  Dufour  have  shown  that  these  normal  prop- 
erties of  vapors  and  liquids  are  subject  to  modification  by 
certain  conditions,  as  previously  (1818)  noted  by  Gay-Lus- 
sac,  and  have  pointed  out  the  bearing  of  this  fact  upon  the 
safety  of  steam-boilers.  It  was  discovered  that  the  boiling- 
point  of  water  could  be  elevated  far  above  its  ordinary  tem- 
perature of  ebullition  by  expedients  which  deprive  the 
liquid  of  the  air  usually  condensed  within  its  mass,  and 
which  prevent  contact  with  rough  or  metallic  surfaces. 
By  suspension  in  a  mixture  of  oils  which  is  of  nearly  the 
same  density,  Dufour  raised  drops  of  water  under  atmos- 
pheric pressure  to  a  temperature  of  356°  Fahr. — 180°  Cent. — 
the  temperature  of  steam  of  about  150  pounds  per  square 
inch.  Prof.  James  Thompson  has,  on  theoretical  grounds, 
indicated  that  a  somewhat  similar  action  may  enable  vapor, 
under  some  conditions,  to  be  cooled  below  the  normal  tem- 
perature of  condensation,  without  liquefaction. 

Fairbairn  and  Tate  repeated  the  attempt  to  determine 
the  volume  and  temperature  of  water  at  pressures  extending 
beyond  those  in  use  in  the  steam-engine,  and  incomplete 
determinations  have  also  been  made  by  others. 

Regnault  is  the  standard  authority  on  these  data.  His 
experiments  (1847)  were  made  at  the  expense  of  the  French 


THS   HISTORY   OF   ITS   GROWTH.  449 

Government,  and  under  the  direction  of  the  French  Acad- 
emy. They  were  wonderfully  accurate,  and  extended  through 
a  very  wide  range  of  temperatures  and  pressures.  The  re- 
sults remain  standard  after  the  lapse  of  a  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury, and  are  regarded  as  models  of  precise  physical  work.1 

Regnault  found  that  the  total  heat  of  steam  is  not  con- 
stant, but  that  the  latent  heat  varies,  and  that  the  sum  of 
the  latent  and  sensible  heats,  or  the  total  heat,  increases 
0.305  of  a  degree  for  each  degree  of  increase  in  the  sensible 
heat,  making  0.305  the  specific  heat  of  saturated  steam.  He 
found  the  specific  heat  of  superheated  steam  to  be  0.4805. 

Regnault  promptly  detected  the  fact  that  steam  was  not 
subject  to  Boyle's  law,  and  showed  that  the  difference  is 
very  marked.  In  expressing  his  results,  he  not  only  tabu- 
lated them  but  also  laid  them  down  graphically  ;  he  further 
determined  exact  constants  for  Biot's  algebraic  expression, 

log.  p  =  a  —  b  A*  —  cB* ; 

making  x  =  20  +  t°  Cent.  ;  A  =  6.264035  ;  log.  b  = 
0.1397743;  log.  c  =  0.6924351;  log.  A  =  1.9940493,  and 
log.  B  ==  1.9983439  ;  p  is  the  pressure  in  atmospheres. 
Regnault,  in  the  expression  for  the  total  heat,  H  =  A  +  b  t, 
determined  on  the  centigrade  scale  6  =  606.5  +  0.305  t  Cent. 
For  the  Fahrenheit  scale,  we  have  the  following  equivalent 
expressions  : 

II  =  1,113.44°  +  0.305  t°  Fahr.,  if  measured  from  0°  Fahr. 
=  1,091.9°    +  0.305  («°  -  32)  Fahr.,  )  if  measured   from 
=  1,081.94°  +  0.305  t°  Fahr.,  j    the  freezing-point. 

For  latent  heat,  we  have  : 

L  =  606.5°  —  0.695  t°  Cent. 

=  1,091.7°  —  0.695  (1°  —  32)  Fahr. 
=  1,113.94°  —  0.695  1°  Fahr. 

1  See  Porter  on  the  Steam-Engine  Indicator  for  the  best  set  of  Regnault's 
Jables  generally  accessible. 


450  TUB   PHILOSOPHY   OF  THE   STEAM-ENGINE. 

Since  Regnault's  time,  nothing  of  importance  has  been 
done  in  this  direction.  There  still  remains  much  work  to 
be  done  in  the  extension  of  the  research  to  higher  pressures, 
and  under  conditions  which  obtain  in  the  operation  of  the 
steam-engine.  The  volumes  and  densities  of  steam  require 
further  study,  and  the  behavior  of  steam  in  the  engine  is 
still  but  little  known,  otherwise  than  theoretically.  Even 
the  true  value  of  Joule's  equivalent  is  not  undisputed. 

Some  of  the  most  recent  experimental  work  bearing 
directly  upon  the  philosophy  of  the  steam-engine  is  that  of 
Him,  whose  determination  of  the  value  of  the  mechanical 
equivalent  was  less  than  two  per  cent,  below  that  of  Joule. 
Hirn  tested  by  experiment,  in  1853,  and  repeatedly  up  to 
1876,  the  analytical  work  of  Rankine,  which  led  to  the  con- 
clusion that  steam  doing  work  by  expansion  must  become 
gradually  liquefied.  Constructing  a  glass  steam-engine 
cylinder,  he  was  enabled  to  see  plainly  the  clouds  of  mist 
which  were  produced  by  the  expansion  of  steam  behind  the 
piston,  where  Regnault's  experiments  prove  that  the  steam 
should  become  drier  and  superheated,  were  no  heat  trans- 
formed into  mechanical  energy.  As  will  be  seen  hereafter, 
this  great  discovery  of  Rankine  is  more  important  in  its 
bearing  upon  the  theory  of  the  steam-engine  than  any  made 
during  the  century.  Hirn's  confirmation  stands,  in  value, 
beside  the  original  discovery.  In  1858  Hirn  confirmed  the 
work  of  Mayer  and  Joule  by  determining  the  work  done 
and  the  carbonic  acid  produced,  as  well  as  the  increased 
temperature  due  to  their  presence,  where  men  were  set  at 
work  in  a  treadmill  ;  he  found  the  elevation  of  temperature 
to  be  much  greater  in  proportion  to  gas  produced  when  the 
men  were  resting  than  when  they  were  at  work.  He  thus 
proved  conclusively  the  conversion  of  heat-energy  into  me- 
chanical work.  It  was  from  these  experiments  that  Helm- 
holtz  deduced  the  "modulus  of  efficiency"  of  the  human 
machine  at  one-fifth,  and  concluded  that  the  heart  works 
wilh  eight  times  the  efficiency  of  a  locomotive-engine,  thus 


THE  HISTORY   OF   ITS  GROWTH.  451 

confirming  a  statement  of  Rumford,  who  asserted  the  higher 
efficiency  of  the  animal. 

Hirn's  most  important  experiments  in  this  department 
were  made  upon  steam-engines  of  considerable  size,  includ- 
ing simple  and  compound  engines,  and  using  steam  some- 
times saturated  and  sometimes  superheated  to  temperatures 
as  high,  on  some  occasions,  as  340°  Cent.  He  determined  the 
work  done,  the  quantity  of  heat  entering,  and  the  amount 
rejected  from,  the  steam-cylinder,  and  thus  obtained  a 
coarse  approximation  to  the  value  of  the  heat-equivalent. 
His  figure  varied  from  296  to  337  kilogrammetres.  But,  in 
all  cases,  the  loss  of  heat  due  to  work  done  was  marked, 
and,  while  these  researches  could  not,  in  the  nature  of  the 
case,  give  accurate  quantitative  results,  they  are  of  great 
value  as  qualitatively  confirming  Mayer  and  Joule,  and 
proving  the  transformation  of  energy. 

Thus,  as  we  have  seen,  experimental  investigation  and 
analytical  research  have  together  created  a  new  science, 
and  the  philosophy  of  the  steam-engine  has  at  last  been 
given  a  complete  and  well-defined  form,  enabling  the  intel- 
ligent engineer  to  comprehend  the  operation  of  the  ma- 
chine, to  perceive  the  conditions  of  efficiency,  and  to  look 
forward  in  a  well-settled  direction  for  further  advances  in 
its  improvement  and  in  the  increase  of  its  efficiency. 

A  very  concise  resume  of  the  principal  facts  and  laws 
bearing  upon  the  philosophy  of  the  steam-engine  will  form 
a  fitting  conclusion  to  this  historical  sketch. 

The  term  "  energy  "  was  first  used  by  Dr.  Young  as  the 
equivalent  of  the  work  of  a  moving  body,  in  his  hardly  yet 
obsolete  "  Lectures  on  Natural  Philosophy." 

Energy  is  the  capacity  of  a  moving  body  to  overcome 
resistance  offered  to  its  motion  ;  it  is  measured  either  by 
the  product  of  the  mean  resistance  into  the  space  through 
which  it  is  overcome,  or  by  the  half -product  of  the  mass  of 
the  body  into  the  square  of  its  velocity.  Kinetic  energy  is 
the  actual  energy  of  a  moving  body  ;  potential  energy  is 


452  THE  PHILOSOPHY   OF  THE   STEAM-ENGINE. 

the  measure  of  the  work  which  a  body  is  capable  of  doing 
under  certain  conditions  which,  without  expending  energy, 
may  be  made  to  affect  it,  as  by  the  breaking  of  a  cord  by 
which  a  weight  is  suspended,  or  by  firing  a  mass  of  explo- 
sive material.  The  British  measure  of  energy  is  the  foot- 
pound ;  the  metric  measure  is  the  kilogrammetre. 

Energy,  whether  kinetic  or  potential,  may  be  observable 
and  due  to  mass-motion  ;  or  it  may  be  invisible  and  due  to 
molecular  movements.  The  energy  of  a  heavenly  body  or 
of  a  cannon-shot,  and  that  of  heat  or  of  electrical  action,  are 
illustrations  of  the  two  classes.  In  Nature  we  find  utilizable 
potential  energy  in  fuel,  in  food,  in  any  available  head  of 
water,  and  in  available  chemical  aflinities.  We  find  kinetic 
energy  in  the  motion  of  the  winds  and  the  flow  of  running 
water,  in  the  heat-motion  of  the  sun's  rays,  in  heat-currents 
on  the  earth,  and  in  many  intermittent  movements  of  bodies 
acted  on  by  applied  forces,  natural  or  artificial.  The  poten- 
tial energy  of  fuel  and  of  food  has  already  been  seen  to 
have  been  derived,  at  an  earlier  period,  from  the  kinetic 
energy  of  the  sun's  rays,  the  fuel  or  the  food  being  thus 
made  a  storehouse  or  reservoir  of  energy.  It  is  also  seen 
that  the  animal  system  is  simply  a  "  mechanism  of  trans- 
mission "  for  energy,  and  does  not  create  but  simply  diverts 
it  to  any  desired  direction  of  application. 

All  the  available  forms  of  energy  can  be  readily  traced 
back  to  a  common  origin  in  the  potential  energy  of  a  uni- 
verse of  nebulous  substance  (chaos),  consisting  of  infinitely 
diffused  matter  of  immeasurably  slight  density,  whose  "  en- 
ergy of  position"  had  been,  since  the  creation,  gradually 
going  through  a  process  of  transformation  into  the  several 
forms  of  kinetic  and  potential  energy  above  specified, 
through  intermediate  methods  of  action  which  are  usually 
still  in  operation,  such  as  the  potential  energy  of  chemical 
affinity,  and  the  kinetic  forms  of  energy  seen  in  solar  radia- 
tion, the  rotation  of  the  earth,  and  the  heat  of  its  interior. 

The  measure  of  any  given  quantity  of  energy,  whatever 


THE   HISTORY  OF  ITS  GROWTH.  453 

may  be  its  form,  is  the  product  of  the  resistance  which  it 
is  capable  of  overcoming  into  the  space  through  which  it 
can  move  against  that  resistance,  i.  e.,  by  the  product  RS. 
Or  it  is  measured  by  the  equivalent  expressions  £MV ",  or 

WVa 

— - — ,  in  which  "W  is  the  weight,  M  is  the  "  mass  "  of  mat- 
ter in  motion,  V  the  velocity,  and  g  the  dynamic  measure 
of  the  force  of  gravity,  32£  feet,  or  9.8  metres,  per  second. 
There  are  three  great  laws  of  energetics  : 

1.  The  sum  total  of  the  energy  of  the  universe  is  in- 
variable. 

2.  The  several    forms  of   energy  are   interconvertible, 
and  possess  an  exact  quantitative  equivalence. 

3.  The  tendency  of  all  forms  of  kinetic  energy  is  con- 
tinually toward  reduction   to  forms  of   molecular  motion, 
and  to  their  final  dissipation  uniformly  throughout  space. 

The  history  of  the  first  two  of  these  laws  has  already 
been  traced.  The  latter  was  first  enunciated  by  Prof.  Sir 
William  Thomson  in  1853.  Undissipated  energy  is  called 
"  Entrophy." 

The  science  of  thermo-dynamics  is,  as  has  been  stated,  a 
branch  of  the  science  of  energetics,  and  is  the  only  branch 
of  that  science  in  the  domain  of  the  physicist  which  has 
been  very  much  studied.  This  branch  of  science,  which  is 
restricted  to  the  consideration  of  the  relations  of  heat-en- 
ergy to  mechanical  energy,  is  based  upon  the  great  fact 
determined  by  Rumford  and  Joule,  and  considers  the  be- 
havior of  those  fluids  which  are  used  in  heat-engines  as  the 
media  through  which  energy  is  transferred  from  the  one 
form  to  the  other.  As  now  accepted,  it  assumes  the  correct- 
ness of  the  hypothesis  of  the  dynamic  theory  of  fluids, 
which  supposes  their  expansive  force  to  be  due  to  the  mo- 
tion of  their  molecules. 

This  idea  is  as  old  as  Lucretius,  and  was  distinctly  ex- 
pressed by  Bernouilli,  Le  Sage  and  Prevost,  and  Herapath. 
Joule  recalled  attention  to  this  idea,  in  1848,  as  explaining 


454  THE   PHILOSOPHY  OF  THE  STEAM-ENGINE. 

the  pressure  of  gases  by  the  impact  of  their  molecules  upon 
the  sides  of  the  containing  vessels.  Ilelmholtz,  ten  years 
later,  beautifully  developed  the  mathematics  of  media  com- 
posed of  moving,  frictionless  particles,  and  Clausius  has 
carried  on  the  work  still  further. 

The  general  conception  of  a  gas,  as  held  to-day,  includ- 
ing the  vortex-atom  theory  of  Thomson  and  Rankine, 
supposes  all  bodies  to  consist  of  small  particles  called  mole- 
cules, each  of  which  is  a  chemical  aggregation  of  its  ulti- 
mate parts  or  atoms.  These  molecules  are  in  a  state  of 
continual  agitation,  which  is  known  as  heat-motion.  The 
higher  the  temperature,  the  more  violent  this  agitation  ; 
the  total  quantity  of  motion  is  measured  as  vis  viva  by  the 
half -product  of  the  mass  into  the  square  of  the  velocity  of 
molecular  movement,  or  in  heat-units  by  the  same  product 
divided  by  Joule's  equivalent.  In  solids,  the  range  of  mo- 
tion is  circumscribed,  and  change  of  form  cannot  take  place. 
In  fluids,  the  motion  of  the  molecules  has  become  suffi- 
ciently violent  to  enable  them  to  break  out  of  this  range, 
and  their  motion  is  then  no  longer  definitely  restricted. 

The  laws  of  thermo-dynamics  are,  according  to  Rankine  : 

1.  Heat-energy   and   mechanical   energy  are   mutually 
convertible,  one  British  thermal  unit  being  the  equivalent 
in  heat-energy  of  772  foot-pounds  of  mechanical   energy, 
and  one  metric  calorie  equal  to  423.55  kilogrammetres  of 
work. 

2.  The  energy  due  to  the  heat  of  each  of  the  several 
equal  parts  into  which  a  uniformly  hot  substance  may  be 
divided  is  the  same  ;  and  the  total  heat-energy  of  the  mass 
is  equal  to  the  sum  of  the  energies  of  its  parts.1 

It  follows  that  the  work  performed  by  the  transforma- 
tion of  the  energy  of  heat,  during  any  indefinitely  small 


1  This  uniformity  is  not  seen  where  a  substance  is  changing  its  physical 
state  while  developing  its  heat-energy,  as  occurs  with  steam  doing  work 
while  expanding. 


THE   HISTORY   OF  ITS  GROWTH.  455 

variation  of  the  state  of  a  substance  as  respects  tempera- 
ture, is  measured  by  the  product  of  the  absolute  tempera- 
ture into  the  variation  of  a  "  function,"  which  function  is 
the  rate  of  variation  of  the  work  so  done  with  temperature. 
This  function  is  the  quantity  called  by  Rankine  the  "  heat- 
potential  "  of  the  substance  for  the  given  kind  of  work.  A 
similar  function,  which  comprehends  the  total  heat-varia- 
tion, including  both  heat  transformed  and  heat  needed  to 
effect  accompanying  physical  changes,  is  called  the  "  ther- 
mo-dynamic  function."  Rankine's  expression  for  the  gen- 
eral equation  of  thermo-dynamics  includes  the  latter,  and  is 
given  by  him  as  follows  : 

Jdh  =  dH  =  Jcdr  +  rdF  =  rdfa 

in  which  J  is  Joule's  equivalent,  dh  the  variation  of  total 
heat  in  the  substance,  kdrtke  product  of  the  "dynamic 
specific  heat "  into  the  variation  of  temperature,  or  the  total 
heat  demanded  to  produce  other  changes  than  a  transfor- 
mation of  energy,  and  r  dF  is  the  work  done  by  the  trans- 
formation of  heat-energy,  or  the  product  of  the  absolute 
temperature,  T,  into  the  differential  of  the  heat-potential. 
0  is  the  thermo-dynamic  function,  and  rdfy  measures  the 
whole  heat  needed  to  produce,  simultaneously,  a  certain 
amount  of  work  or  of  mechanical  energy,  and,  at  the  same 
time,  to  change  the  temperature  of  the  working  substance. 

Studying  the  behavior  of  gases  and  vapors,  it  is  found 
that  the  work  done  when  they  are  used,  like  steam,  in  heat- 
engines,  consists  of  three  parts  : 

(a.)  The  change  effected  in  the  total  actual  heat-motion 
of  the  fluid. 

(b.)  That  heat  which  is  expended  in  the  production  of 
internal  work. 

(c.)  That  heat  which  is  expended  in  doing  the  external 
work  of  expansion. 

In  any  case  in  which  the  total  heat  expended  exceeds 
that  due  the  production  of  work  on  external  bodies,  the  ex- 
21 


456  THE   PHILOSOPHY  OF  THE   STEAM-ENGIXE. 

cess  so  supplied  is  so  much  added  to  the  intrinsic  energy  of 
the  substance  absorbing  it. 

The  application  of  these  laws  to  the  working  of  steam 
in  the  engine  is  a  comparatively  recent  step  in  the  philoso- 
phy of  the  steam-engine,  and  we  are  indebted  to  Rankine 
for  the  first,  and  as  yet  only,  extended  and  in  any  respect 
complete  treatise  embodying  these  now  accepted  principles. 

It  was  fifteen  years  after  the  publication  of  the  first 
logical  theory  of  the  steam-engine,  by  Pambour,1  before 
Rankine,  in  1859,  issued  the  most  valuable  of  all  his  works, 
"  The  Steam-Engine  and  other  Prime  Movers."  The  work 
is  far  too  abstruse  for  the  general  reader,  and  is  even  dim- 
cult  reading  for  many  accomplished  engineers.  It  is  excel- 
lent beyond  praise,  however,  as  a  treatise  on  the  thermo- 
dynamics of  heat-engines.  It  will  be  for  his  successors  the 
work  of  years  to  extend  the  application  of  the  laws  which 
he  has  worked  out,  and  to  place  the  results  of  his  labors 
before  students  in  a  readily  comprehended  form. 

William  J.  Macquorn  Rankine,  the  Scotch  engineer  and 
philosopher,  will  always  be  remembered  as  the  author  of 
the  modern  philosophy  of  the  steam-engine,  and  as  the 
greatest  among  the  founders  of  the  science  of  thermo-dy- 
namics.  His  death,  while  still  occupying  the  chair  of  en- 
gineering at  the  University  of  Glasgow,  December  24, 1872, 
at  the  early  age  of  fifty-two,  was  one  of  the  greatest  losses 
to  science  and  to  the  profession  which  have  occurred  during 
the  century. 

1  "Th6orie  de  la  Machine  a  Vapeur,"  par  le  Chevalier  F.  M.  G.  de  Pam- 
bour, Paris,  1844. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  THE  STEAM-ENGINE. 

ITS  APPLICATION  ;    ITS  TEACHINGS  RESPECTING  THE  CON- 
STRUCTION   OF    THE    ENGINE    AND    ITS    IMPROVEMENT. 

"  OFTENTIMES  an  Uncertaintie  hindered  our  going  on  so  merrily,  but  by 
persevering  the  Difficultie  was  mastered,  and  the  new  Triumph -gave 
stronger  Heart  unto  us." — RALEIGH. 

"If  everything  which  we  cannot  comprehend  is  to  be  called  an  impossi- 
bility, how  many  are  daily  presented  to  our  eyes !  and  in  contemning  as 
false  that  which  we  consider  to  be  impossible,  may  we  not  be  depreciating 
a  giant'a  effort  to  give  an  importance  to  our  own  weakness  ? " — MON- 
TAIGNE. 

"  They  who  aim  vigorously  at  perfection  will  come  nearer  to  it  than 
those  whose  laziness  or  despondency  makes  them  give  up  its  pursuit  from 
the  feeling  of  its  being  unattainable." — CHESTERFIELD. 

As  has  been  already  stated,  the  steam-engine  is  a  ma- 
chine which  is  especially  designed  to  transform  energy, 
originally  dormant  or  potential,  into  active  and  usefully 
available  kinetic  energy. 

When,  millions  of  years  ago,  in  that  early  period  which 
the  geologists  call  the  carboniferous,  the  kinetic  energy  of 
the  sun's  rays,  and  of  the  glowing  interior  of  the  earth, 
was  expended  in  the  decomposition  of  the  vast  volumes  of 
carbonic  acid  with  which  air  was  then  charged,  and  in  the 
production  of  a  life-sustaining  atmosphere  and  of  the  im- 
mense forests  which  then  covered  the  earth  with  their  al- 


458  THE   PHILOSOPHY   OF  THE   STEAM-ENGINE. 

most  inconceivably  luxuriant  vegetation,  there  was  stored  up 
for  the  benefit  of  the  human  race,  then  uncreated,  an  incon- 
ceivably great  treasure  of  potential  energy,  which  we  are 
now  just  beginning  to  utilize.  This  potential  energy  be- 
comes kinetic  and  available  wherever  and  whenever  the 
powerful  chemical  affinity  of  oxygen  for  carbon  is  permitted 
to  come  into  play  ;  and  the  fossil  fuel  stored  in  our  coal- 
beds  or  the  wood  of  existing  forests  is,  by  the  familiar  pro- 
cess of  combustion,  permitted  to  return  to  the  state  of  com- 
bination with  oxygen  in  which  it  existed  in  the  earliest  geo- 
logical periods. 

The  philosophy  of  the  steam-engine,  therefore,  traces 
the  changes  which  occur  from  this  first  step,  by  which,  in 
the  furnace  of  the  steam-boiler,  this  potential  energy  which 
exists  in  the  tendency  of  carbon  and  oxygen  to  combine  to 
form  carbonic  acid  is  taken  advantage  of,  and  the  utilizable 
kinetic  energy  of  heat  is  produced  in  equivalent  amount, 
to  the  final  application  of  resulting  mechanical  energy  to 
machinery  of  transmission,  through  which  it  is  usefully 
applied  to  the  elevation  of  water,  to  the  driving  of  mills 
and  machinery  of  all  kinds,  or  to  the  hauling  of  "  light- 
ning "  trains  on  our  railways,  or  to  the  propulsion  of  the 
Great  Eastern. 

The  kinetic  heat-energy  developed  in  the  furnace  of  the 
steam-boiler  is  partly  transmitted  through  the  metallic 
walls  which  inclose  the  steam  and  water  within  the  boiler, 
there  to  evaporate  water,  and  to  assume  that  form  of  en- 
ergy which  exists  in  steam  confined  under  pressure,  and  is 
partly  carried  away  into  the  atmosphere  in  the  discharged 
gaseous  products  of  combustion,  serving,  however,  a  useful 
purpose,  en  route,  by  producing  the  draught  needed  to  keep 
up  combustion. 

The  steam,  with  its  store  of  heat-energy,  passes  through 
tortuous  pipes  and  passages  to  the  steam-cylinder  of  the 
engine,  losing  more  or  less  heat  on  the  way,  and  there  ex- 
pands, driving  the  piston  before  it,  and  losing  heat  by  the 


ITS  APPLICATION.  459 

transformation  of  that  form  of  energy  while  doing  mechani- 
cal work  of  equivalent  amount.  But  this  steam-cylinder  is 
made  of  metal,  a  material  which  is  one  of  the  best  con- 
ductors of  heat,  and  therefore  one  of  the  very  worst  possi- 
ble substances  with  which  to  inclose  anything  as  subtile  and 
difficult  of  control  as  the  heat  pervading  a  condensible 
vapor  like  steam.  The  process  of  internal  condensation  and 
reevaporation,  which  is  the  great  enemy  of  economical 
working,  thus  has  full  play,  and  is  only  partly  checked  by 
the  heat  from  the  steam-jacket,  which,  penetrating  the  cyl- 
inder, assists  by  keeping  up  the  temperature  of  the  internal 
surface  and  checking  the  first  step,  condensation,  which  is 
an  essential  preliminary  to  the  final  waste  by  reevaporation. 
The  piston,  too,  is  of  metal,  and  affords  a  most  excellent 
way  of  exit  for  the  heat  escaping  to  the  exhaust  side. 

Finally,  all  unutilized  heat  rejected  from  the  steam-cyl- 
inder is  carried  away  from  the  machine,  either  by  the  water 
of  condensation,  or,  in  the  non-condensing  engine,  by  the 
atmosphere  into  which  it  is  discharged. 

Having  traced  the  method  of  operation  of  the  steam- 
engine,  it  is  easy  to  discover  what  principles  are  compre- 
hended in  its  philosophy,  to  learn  what  are  known  facts 
bearing  upon  its  operation,  and  to  determine  what  are  the 
directions  in  which  improvement  must  take  place,  what  are 
the  limits  beyond  which  improvement  cannot  possibly  be 
earned,  and,  in  some  directions,  to  determine  what  is  the 
proper  course  to  pursue  in  effecting  improvements.  The 
general  direction  of  change  in  the  past,  as  well  as  at  pres- 
ent, is  easily  seen,  and  it  may  usually  be  assumed  that  there 
will  be  no  immediate  change  of  direction  in  a  course  which 
has  long  been  preserved,  and  which  is  well  defined.  We 
may,  therefore,  form  an  idea  of  the  probable  direction  in 
which  to  look  for  improvement  in  the  near  future. 

Reviewing  the  operations  which  go  on  in  this  machine 
during  the  process  of  transformation  of  energy  which  has 
been  outlined,  and  studying  it  more  in  detail,  we  may  de- 


460  THE   PHILOSOPHY   OF  THE   STEAM-ENGINE. 

duce  the  principles  which  govern  its  design  and  construction, 
guide  us  in  its  management,  and  determine  its  efficiency. 

In  the  furnace  of  the  boiler,  the  quantity  of  heat  de- 
veloped in  available  form  is  proportional  to  the  amount  of 
fuel  burned.  It  is  available  in  proportion  to  the  tempera- 
ture attained  by  the  products  of  combustion  ;  were  this 
temperature  no  higher  than  that  of  the  boiler,  the  heat 
would  all  pass  off  unutilized.  But  the  temperature  pro- 
duced by  a  given  quantity  of  heat,  measured  in  heat-units, 
is  greater  as  the  volume  of  gas  heated  is  less.  It  follows 
that,  at  this  point,  therefore,  the  fuel  should  be  perfectly 
consumed  with  the  least  possible  air-supply,  and  the  least 
possible  abstraction  of  heat  before  combustion  is  complete. 
High  temperature  of  furnace,  also,  favors  complete  combus- 
tion. "We  hence  conclude  that,  in  the  steam-boiler  furnace, 
fuel  should  be  burned  completely  in  a  chamber  having  non- 
conducting walls,  and  with  the  smallest  air-supply  compati- 
ble with  thorough  combustion  ;  and,  further,  that  the  air 
should  be  free  from  moisture,  that  greatest  of  all  absorb- 
ents of  heat,  and  that  the  products  of  combustion  should 
be  removed  from  the  furnace  before  beginning  to  drain 
their  heat  into  the  boiler.  A  fire-brick  furnace,  a  large 
combustion-chamber  with  thorough  intermixture  of  gases 
within  it,  good  fuel,  and  a  restricted  and  carefully-distrib- 
uted supply  of  air,  seem  to  be  the  conditions  which  meet 
these  requisites  best. 

The  heat  generated  by  combustion  traverses  the  walls 
which  separate  the  gases  of  the  furnace  from  the  steam  and 
water  confined  within  the  boiler,  and  is  then  taken  up  by 
those  fluids,  raising  their  temperature  from  that  of  the  en- 
tering "  feed- water  "  to  that  due  the  steam-pressure,  and 
expanding  the  liquid  into  steam  occupying  a  greatly-in- 
creased volume,  thus  doing  a  certain  amount  of  work,  be- 
sides increasing  temperature.  The  extent  to  which  heat 
may  thus  be  usefully  withdrawn  from  the  furnace-gases 
depends  upon  the  conductivity  of  the  metallic  wall,  the 


ITS  APPLICATION.  461 

rate  at  which  the  water  will  take  heat  from  the  metal,  and 
the  difference  of  temperature  on  the  two  sides  of  the  metal. 
Extended  "  heating-surface,"  therefore,  a  metal  of  high  con- 
ducting power,  and  a  maximum  difference  of  temperature 
on  the  two  sides  of  the  separating  wall  of  metal,  are  the 
essential  conditions  of  economy  here.  The  heating-surface 
is  sometimes  made  of  so  great  an  area  that  the  temperature 
of  the  escaping  gases  is  too  low  to  give  good  chimney- 
draught,  and  a  "  mechanical  draught "  is  resorted  to,  re- 
volving "  fan-blowers  "  being  ordinarily  used  for  its  pro- 
duction. It  is  most  economical  to  adopt  this  method.  The 
steam-boiler  is  generally  constructed  of  iron — sometimes, 
but  rarely,  of  cast-iron,  although  "  steel,"  where  not  hard 
enough  to  harden  or  temper,  is  better  in  consequence  of  its 
greater  strength  and  homogeneousness  of  structure,  and  its 
better  conductivity.  The  maximum  conductivity  of  flow 
of  heat  for  any  given  material  is  secured  by  so  designing 
the  boiler  as  to  secure  rapid,  steady,  and  complete  circula- 
tion of  the  water  within  it.  The  maximum  rapidity  of 
transfer  throughout  the  whole  area  of  heating-surface  is 
secured,  usually,  by  taking  the  feed-water  into  the  boiler 
as  nearly  as  possible  at  the  point  where  the  gases  are  dis- 
charged into  the  chimney-flue,  withdrawing  the  steam  nearer 
the  point  of  maximum  temperature  of  flues,  and  securing 
opposite  directions  of  flow  for  the  gases  on  the  one  side 
and  the  water  on  the  other.  Losses  of  heat  from  the  boiler, 
by  conduction  and  radiation  to  surrounding  bodies,  are 
checked  as  far  as  possible  by  non-conducting  coverings. 

The  mechanical  equivalent  of  the  heat  generated  in  the 
boiler  is  easily  calculated  when  the  conditions  of  working 
are  known.  A  pound  of  pure  carbon  has  been  found  to  be 
capable  of  liberating  by  its  perfect  combustion,  resulting  in 
the  formation  of  carbonic  acid,  14,500  British  thermal  units, 
equivalent  to  14,500  X  772  =3  11,194,000  foot-pounds  of  work, 
and,  if  burned  in  one  hour,  to  -^iVsVirW"  ==  &•$  horse-power. 
In  other  words,  with  perfect  utilization,  but  ^f  =  0.177,  or 


462  TilE  PHILOSOPHY   OF  THE   STEAM-ENGINE. 

about  one-sixth,  of  a  pound  of  carbon  would  be  needed 
per  hour  for  each  horse-power  of  work  done.  But  even 
good  coal  is  not  nearly  all  carbon,  and  has  but  about  nine- 
tenths  this  heat-producing  power,  and  it  is  usually  rated  as 
yielding  about  10,000,000  foot-pounds  of  work  per  pound. 
The  evaporative  power  of  pure  carbon  being  rated  at  15 
pounds  of  water,  that  of  good  coal  may  be  stated  at  13^. 
In  metric  measures,  one  gramme  of  good  coal  should  evap- 
orate about  13|  grammes  of  water  from  the  boiling-point, 
producing  the  equivalent  of  about  3,000,000  kilogrammetres 
of  work  from  the  7,272  calories  of  heat  thus  generated.  A 
gramme  of  pure  carbon  generates  in  its  combustion  8,080 
calories  of  heat.  Per  hour  and  per  horse-power,  0.08,  or 
less  than  one-twelfth,  of  a  kilogramme  of  carbon  burned 
per  hour  evolves  heat-energy  equal  to  one  horse-power. 

Of  the  coal  burned  in  a  steam-boiler,  it  rarely  happens 
that  more  than  three-fourths  is  utilized  in  making  steam  ; 
7,500,000  foot-pounds  (1,036,898  kilogrammetres)  is,  there- 
fore, as  much  energy  as  is  usually  sent  to  the  engine  per 
pound  of  good  coal  burned  in  the  steam-boiler.  The 
"efficiency"  of  a  good  steam-boiler  is  therefore  usually 
not  far  from  0.75  as  a  maximum.  Rankine  estimates  this 
quantity  for  ordinary  boilers  of  good  design  and  with 
chimney-draught  at 


in  which  *  is  the  ratio  of  weight  of  fuel  burned  per  square 
foot  of  grate  to  the  ratio  of  heating  to  grate  surface  ;  this  is 
a  formula  of  fairly  close  approximation  for  general  practice. 
The  steam  in  the  engine  first  drives  the  piston  some  dis- 
tance before  the  induction  or  steam  valve  is  closed,  and  it 
then  expands,  doing  work,  and  condensing  in  proportion  to 
work  done  as  the  expansion  proceeds,  until  it  is  finally  re- 
leased by  the  opening  of  the  exhaust  or  eduction  valve. 
Saturated  steam  is  modified  in  its  action  by  a  process  which 


ITS   APPLICATION.  463 

has  already  been  described,  condensing  at  the  beginning 
and  reevaporating  at  the  end  of  the  stroke,  thus  carrying 
into  the  condenser  considerable  quantities  of  heat  which 
should  have  been  utilized  in  the  development  of  power. 
Whether  this  operation  takes  place  in  one  cylinder  or  in 
several  is  only  of  importance  in  so  far  as  it  modifies  the  losses 
due  to  conduction  and  radiation  of  heat,  to  condensation 
and  reevaporation  of  steam,  and  to  the  friction  of  the 
machine.  It  has  already  been  seen  how  these  losses  are 
modified  by  the  substitution  of  the  compound  for  the  single- 
cylinder  engine. 

The  laws  of  thermo-dynamics  teach,  as  has  been  stated, 
that  the  proportion  of  the  heat-energy  contained  in  the  steam 
or  other  working  fluid  which  may  be  transformed  into 

mechanical  energy  is  a  fraction,  — *-~ — *,  of  the  total,  in 

which  H,  and  Ha  are  the  quantities  of  heat  contained  in  the 
steam  at  the  beginning  and  at  the  end  of  its  operation, 
measuring  from  the  absolute  zero  of  heat-motion.  In  per- 
fect gases, 

H, -H,  _  TI  -  T,  _          T.-T. 

Ht  Y,      ~  T,  +  461.2°  Fahr.  ' 

but  in  imperfect  gases,  and  especially  in  vapors  which,  like 
steam,  condense,  or  otherwise  change  their  physical  state, 

this  equality  may  still  exist,  -~= — -  =  — ;   and  the 

fluid  is  equally  efficient  with  the  perfect  gas  as  a  working 
substance  in  a  heat-engine.  In  any  case  it  is  seen  that  the 
efficiency  is  greatest  when  the  whole  of  the  heat  is  received 
at  the  maximum  and  rejected  at  the  minimum  attainable 
temperatures. 

Assuming  this  expression  strictly  accurate,  a  hot-air 
engine  working  from  413.6°  Fahr.  or  874.8°  absolute  tem- 
perature, down  to  122°  Fahr.  or  583.2°  absolute,  should  have 
an  efliciency  of  0.263,  transforming  that  proportion  of 


464  THE  PHILOSOPHY   OF  THE   STEAM-ENGIXE. 

available  heat  into  mechanical  work.  The  engines  of  the 
steamer  Ericsson  closely  approached  this  figure,  and  gave  a 
horse-power  for  each  1.87  pound  of  coal  burned  per  hour. 

Steam  expands  in  the  steam-cylinder  quite  differently 
under  different  circumstances.  If  no  heat  is  either  commu- 
nicated to  it  or  abstracted  from  it,  however,  it  expands  in 
an  hyperbolic  curve,  losing  its  tension  much  more  rapidly 
than  when  expanded  without  doing  work,  in  consequence 
both  of  its  change  of  volume  and  its  condensation.  The 
algebraic  expression  for  this  method  of  expansion  is,  accord- 
ing to  Rankine,  PV1  m  =  C,  a  constant,  or,  according  to 
other  authorities,  from  PVU3S  =  C  to  PV1-140  =  C.  The 
greater  the  value  of  the  exponent  of  V,  the  greater  the  effi- 
ciency of  the  fluid  between  any  two  temperatures.  The 
maximum  value  has  been  found  to  be  given  where  the 
steam  is  saturated,  but  perfectly  dry,  at  the  commencement 
of  its  expansion.  The  loss  due  to  condensation  on  the 
cooled  interior  surface  of  the  cylinder  at  the  commence- 
ment of  the  stroke  and  the  subsequent  reevaporation  as 
expansion  progresses  is  least  when  the  cylinder  is  kept  hot 
by  its  steam-jacket  and  when  least  time  is  given  during 
the  stroke  for  this  transfer  of  heat  between  the  metal  and 
the  vapor. 

It  may  be  said  that,  all  things  considered,  therefore, 
losses  of  heat  in  the  steam-cylinder  are  least  when  the  steam 
enters  dry,  or  moderately  superheated,  where  the  interior 
surfaces  are  kept  hottest  by  the  steam-jacket  or  by  the 
hot-air  jacket  sometimes  used,  and  where  piston-speed  and 
velocity  of  rotation  are  highest.1  The  best  of  compound 
engines,  using  steam  of  seventy-five  pounds  pressure  and 
condensing,  usually  require  about  two  pounds  of  coal  per 
hour — 20,000,000  foot-pounds  of  enargy  at  the  furnace — 
to  develop  a  horse-power,  i.  e.,  about  ten  times  the  heat- 

1  In  some  cases,  as  in  the  Allen  engine,  the  speed  of  piston  has  become 
very  high,  approaching  800  ^stroke. 


ITS  APPLICATION.  465 

equivalent  of  the  mechanical  work  which  they  accomplish. 
Were  the  steam  to  expand  like  the  permanent  gases,  they 
would  have  a  theoretical  efficiency  of  about  one-quarter  ; 
actually,  the  efficiency  is  only  one-tenth.  The  steam-en- 
gine, therefore,  utilizes  about  two-fifths  the  heat-energy  theo- 
retically available  with  the  best  type  of  engine  in  general 
use.  By  far  the  greater  part,  nearly  all,  in  fact,  of  the  nine- 
tenths  wasted  is  rejected  in  the  exhaust  steam,  and  can  only 
be  saved  by  some  such  method  as  is  hereafter  to  be  sug- 
gested of  retaining  that  heat  and  returning  it  to  the  boiler. 

The  mechanical  power  which  has  now  been  communi- 
cated to  the  mechanism  of  the  engine  by  the  transfer  of  the 
kinetic  energy  of  the  hot  steam  to  the  piston  is  finally  use- 
fully applied  to  whatever  "  mechanism  of  transmission " 
forms  the  connection  with  the  machinery  driven  by  the  en- 
gine. In  this  transfer,  there  is  some  loss  in  the  engine  it- 
self, by  friction.  This  is  an  extremely  variable  amount,  and 
it  can  be  made  very  small  by  skillful  design  and  good  work- 
manship and  management.  It  may  be  taken  at  one-half 
pound  per  square  inch  of  piston  for  good  engines  of  100 
horse-power  and  upward,  but  is  often  several  pounds  in  very 
small  engines.  It  is  least  when  the  rubbing  surfaces  are  of 
different  materials,  but  both  of  smooth,  hard,  close-grained 
metal,  well  lubricated,  and  where  advantage  is  taken  of  any 
arrangement  of  parts  which  permits  the  equilibration  of 
pressure,  as  on  the  shaft-bearings  of  double  and  triple  en- 
gines. The  friction  of  a  steam-engine  of  large  size  and 
good  design  is  usually  between  five  and  seven  per  cent,  of 
its  total  power.  It  increases  rapidly  as  the  size  of  engine 
decreases. 

Having  now  traced  somewhat  minutely  the  growth  of 
the  steam-engine  from  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era  to 
the  present  time,  having  rapidly  outlined  the  equally  gradual, 
though  intermittent,  growth  of  its  philosophy,  and  having 
shown  how  the  principles  of  science  find  application  in  the 
operation  of  this  wonderful  machine,  wre  are  now  prepared 


466  THE   PHILOSOPHY   OF   THE   STEAM-ENGINE. 

to  study  the  conditions  which  control  the  intelligent  design- 
er, and  to  endeavor  to  learn  what  are  the  lessons  taught  us 
by  science  and  by  experience  in  regard  to  the  essential  re- 
quisites of  efficient  working  of  steam  and  economy  in  the 
consumption  of  fuel.  We  may  even  venture  to  point  out 
definitely  the  direction  in  which  improvement  is  now  pro- 
gressing as  indicated  by  a  study  of  these  requisites,  and  may 
be  able  to  perceive  the  natural  limits  to  such  progress,  and 
possibly  to  conjecture  what  must  be  the  character  of  that 
change  of  type  which  only  can  take  the  engineer  beyond 
the  limit  set  to  his  advance  so  long  as  he  is  confined  to  the 
construction  of  the  present  type  of  engine. 

First,  we  must  consider  the  question  :  What  is  the 
problem,  stated  precisely  and  in  its  most  general  form,  that 
engineers  have  been  here  attempting  to  solve  f 

After  stating  the  problem,  we  will  examine  the  record 
with  a  view  to  determine  what  direction  the  path  of  im- 
provement has  taken  hitherto,  to  learn  what  are  the  condi- 
tions of  efficiency  which  should  govern  the  construction  of 
the  modern  steam-engine,  and,  so  far  as  we  may  judge  the 
future  by  the  past,  by  inference,  to  ascertain  what  appears 
to  be  the  proper  course  for  the  present  and  for  the  imme- 
diate future.  Still  further,  we  will  inquire,  what  are  the 
conditions,  physical  and  intellectual,  which  best  aid  our 
progress  in  perfecting  the  steam-engine. 

This  most  important  problem  may  be  stated  in  its  most 
general,  yet  definite,  form  as  follows  : 

To  construct  a  machine  ichich  shall,  in  the  most  perfect 
manner  possible,  convert  the  kinetic  energy  of  heat  into 
mechanical  power,  the  heat  being  derived  from  the  combus- 
tion of  fuel,  and  steam  being  the  receiver  and  the  conveyer 
of  that  heat. 

The  problem,  as  we  have  already  seen,  embodies  two 
distinct  and  equally  important  inquiries  : 

The  first :  What  are  the  scientific  principles  involved  in 
the  problem  as  stated  ? 


ITS  APPLICATION.  467 

The  second  :  How  shall  a  machine  be  constructed  that 
shall  most  efficiently  embody,  and  accord  with,  not  only 
those  scientific  principles,  but  also  all  of  those  principles  of 
engineering  practice  that  so  vitally  affect  the  economical 
value  of  every  machine  ? 

The  one  question  is  addressed  to  the  man  of  science,  the 
other  to  the  engineer.  They  can  be  satisfactorily  answered, 
even  so  far  as  our  knowledge  at  present  permits,  after  study- 
ing with  care  the  scientific  principles  involved  in  the  theory 
of  the  steam-engine  under  the  best  light  that  science  can 
afford  us,  and  by  a  careful  study  of  the  various  steps  of  im- 
provement that  have  taken  place  and  of  accompanying  varia- 
tions of  structure,  analyzing  the  effect  of  each  change,  and 
tracing  the  reasons  for  them. 

The  theory  of  the  steam-engine  is  too  important  and 
too  extensive  a  subject  to  be  satisfactorily  treated  here  in 
even  the  most  concise  possible  manner.  I  can  only  attempt 
a  plain  statement  of  the  course  which  seems  to  be  pointed 
out  by  science  as  the  proper  one  to  pursue  in  the  endeavor 
to  increase  the  economical  efficiency  of  steam-engines. 

The  teachings  of  science  indicate  that  success  in  econom- 
ically deriving  mechanical  power  from  the  energy  of  heat- 
motion  will,  in  all  cases,  be  the  greater  as  we  work  between 
more  widely  separated  limits  of  temperature,  and  as  we 
more  perfectly  provide  against  losses  by  dissipation  of  heat 
in  directions  in  which  it  is  unavailable  for  the  production 
of  power. 

Scientific  research,  as  we  have  seen,  has  proved  that,  in 
all  known  varieties  of  heat-engine,  a  large  loss  of  effect  is 
unavoidable  from  the  fact  that  we  cannot,  in  the  ordinary 
steam-engine,  reduce  the  lower  limit  of  temperature,  in 
working,  below  a  point  which  is  far  above  the  absolute 
zero  of  temperature — far  above  that  point  at  which  bodies 
have  no  heat-motion.  The  point  corresponding  to  the  mean 
temperature  of  the  surface  of  the  earth  is  above  the  ordi- 
nary lower  limit. 


468  THE   PHILOSOPHY   OF   THE   STEAM-ENGINE. 

The  higher  the  temperature  of  the  steam  when  it  enters 
the  steam  cylinder,  and  the  lower  that  which  it  reaches  be- 
fore the  exhaust  occurs,  the  greater,  science  tells  us,  will  be 
our  success,  provided  we  at  the  same  time  avoid  waste  of 
heat  and  power. 

Now,  looking  back  over  the  history  of  the  steam-engine, 
we  may  briefly  note  the  prominent  improvements  and  the 
most  striking  changes  of  form,  and  may  thus  endeavor  to 
obtain  some  idea  of  the  general  direction  in  which  we  are 
to  look  for  further  advance. 

Beginning  with  the  machine  of  Porta,  at  which  point  we 
may  first  take  up  an  unbroken  thread,  it  will  be  remembered 
that  we  there  found  a  single  vessel  performing  the  functions 
of  all  the  parts  of  a  modern  pumping-engine  ;  it  was,  at 
once,  boiler,  steam-cylinder,  and  condenser,  as  well  as  both 
a  lifting  and  a  forcing  pump. 

The  Marquis  of  Worcester  divided  the  engine  into  two 
parts,  using  a  separate  boiler. 

Savery  duplicated  that  part  of  the  engine  of  Worcester 
which  performed  the  several  parts  of  pump,  steam-cylinder, 
and  condenser,  and  added  the  use  of  water  to  effect  rapid 
condensation,  perfecting,  so  far  as  it  was  ever  perfected,  the 
steam-engine  as  a  simple  machine. 

Newcomen  and  Galley  next  separated  the  pump  from 
the  steam-engine  proper,  producing  the  modern  steam-en- 
gine— the  engine  as  a  train  of  mechanism  ;  and  in  their  en- 
gine, as  in  Savery's,  we  noticed  the  use  of  surface  conden- 
sation first,  and  subsequently  that  of  the  jet  thrown  into  the 
midst  of  the  steam  to  be  condensed. 

Watt  finally  effected  the  crowning  improvements,  and 
completed  the  movement  of  "  differentiation  "  by  separating 
the  condenser  from  the  steam-cylinder.  Here  this  process 
of  change  ceased,  the  several  important  operations  of  the 
steam-engine  now  being  conducted  each  in  a  separate  vessel. 
The  boiler  furnished  the  steam,  the  cylinder  derived  from  it 
mechanical  power,  and  it  was  finally  condensed  in  a  separate 


ITS  APPLICATION.  4G9 

vessel,  while  the  power  which  had  been  obtained  from  it  in 
the  steam-cylinder  was  transmitted  through  still  other  parts, 
to  the  pumps,  or  wherever  work  was  to  be  done. 

Watt,  also,  took  the  initiative  in  another  direction.  He 
continually  increased  the  efficiency  of  the  machine  by  im- 
proving the  proportions  of  its  parts  and  the  character  of  its 
workmanship,  thus  making  it  possible  to  render  available 
many  of  those  improvements  in  detail  upon  which  effective- 
ness is  so  greatly  dependent  and  which  are  only  useful  when 
made  by  a  skillful  workman. 

Watt  and  his  contemporaries  also  commenced  that  move- 
ment toward  higher  pressures  of  steam  and  greater  expan- 
sion which  has  been  the  most  striking  feature  noticed  in  the 
progress  of  steam-engineering  since  his  time.  Newcomen 
used  steam  of  barely  more  than  atmospheric  pressure  and 
raised  105,000  pounds  of  water  one  foot  high  with  a  pound 
of  coal  consumed.  Smeaton  raised  the  pressure  somewhat 
and  increased  the  duty  considerably.  Watt  started  with  a 
duty  double  that  of  Newcomen  and  raised  it  to  320,000 
foot-pounds  per  pound  of  coal,  with  steam  at  10  pounds 
pressure.  To-day,  Cornish  engines  of  the  same  general  plan 
as  those  of  Watt,  but  worked  with  40  to  60  pounds  of  steam 
and  expanding  three  or  four  times,  do  a  duty  probably 
averaging,  with  the  better  class  of  engines,  600,000  foot- 
pounds per  pound  of  coal.  The  compound  pumping-engine 
runs  the  figure  up  to  above  1,000,000. 

The  increase  in  steam-pressure  and  in  expansion  since 
Watt's  time  has  been  accompanied  by  a  very  great  im- 
provement in  workmanship — a  consequence,  very  largely, 
of  the  rapid  increase  in  perfection,  and  in  the  wide  range 
of  adaptation  of  machine-tools — by  higher  skill  and  intel- 
ligence in  designing  engines  and  boilers,  by  increased  pis- 
ton-speed, greater  care  in  obtaining  dry  steam,  and  in  keep- 
ing it  dry  until  thrown  out  of  the  cylinder,  either  by  steam- 
jacketing  or  by  superheating,  or  both  combined  ;  it  has 
further  been  accompanied  by  a  greater  attention  to  the  irn- 


470  THE   PHILOSOPHY   OF   THE   STEAM-ENGINE. 

portant  matter  of  providing  carefully  against  losses  by 
radiation  and  conduction  of  heat.  We  use,  finally,  the 
compound  or  double-cylinder  engine  for  the  purpose  of  sav- 
ing some  of  the  heat  usually  lost  in  internal  condensation 
and  reevaporation,  and  precipitation  of  condensed  vapor 
from  great  expansion. 

It  is  evident  that,  although  there  is  a  limit,  tolerably 
well  defined,  in  the  scale  of  temperature,  below  which  we 
cannot  expect  to  pass,  a  degree  gained  in  approaching  this 
lower  limit  is  more  remunerative  than  a  degree  gained  in 
the  range  of  temperature  available  by  increasing  tempera- 
tures.1 

Hence  the  attempt  made  by  the  French  inventor,  Du 
Trembly,  about  the  year  1850,  and  by  other  inventors  since, 
to  utilize  a  larger  proportion  of  heat  by  approaching  more 
closely  the  lower  limit,  was  in  accordance  with  known  sci- 
entific principles. 

We  may  summarize  the  result  of  our  examination  of  the 
growth  of  the  steam-engine  thus  : 

First.  The  process  of  improvement  has  been  one,  pri- 
marily, of  "  differentiation  ; "  *  the  number  of  parts  has  been 
continually  increased  ;  while  the  work  of  each  part  has  been 
simplified,  a  separate  organ  being  appropriated  to  each  pro- 
cess in  the  cycle  of  operations. 

Secondly.     A  kind  of  secondary  process  of  differentia- 


1  The  fact  here  referred  to  is  easily  seen  if  it  is  supposed  that  an  en- 
gine is  supplied  with  steam  at  a  temperature  of  400°  above  absolute  zero 
and  works  it,  without  waste,  down  to  a  temperature  of  200°.  Suppose  one 
inventor  to  adapt  the  engine  to  the  use  of  steam  of  a  range  from  500° 
down  to  200°,  while  another  works  his  engine,  with  equally  effective  pro- 
vision against  losses,  between  the  limits  of  400°  and  100°,  an  equal  range 
with  a  lower  mean.  The  first  case  gives  an  efficiency  of  one-half,  the 
second  three-fifths,  and  the  third  three-fourths,  the  last  giving  the  highest 
effect. 

*  This  term,  though  perhaps  not  familiar  to  engineers,  expresses  the  idea 
perfectly. 


ITS   APPLICATION.  471 

tion  has,  to  some  extent,  followed  the  completion  of  the 
primary  one,  in  which  secondary  process  one  operation  is 
conducted  partly  in  one  and  partly  in  another  portion  of  the 
machine.  This  is  illustrated  by  the  two  cylinders  of  the 
compound  engine  and  by  the  duplication  noticed  in  the 
binary  engine. 

Thirdly.  The  direction  of  improvement  has  been  marked 
by  a  continual  increase  of  steam-pressure,  greater  expansion, 
provision  for  obtaining  dry  steam,  high  piston-speed,  care- 
ful protection  against  loss  of  heat  by  conduction  or  radia- 
tion, and,  in  marine  engines,  by  surface  condensation. 

The  direction  which  improvement  seems  now  to  be  tak- 
ing, and  the  proper  direction,  as  indicated  by  an  examination 
of  the  principles  of  science,  as  well  as  by  our  review  of  the 
steps  already  taken,  would  seem  to  be  :  working  between 
the  widest  attainable  limits  of  temperature. 

Steam  must  enter  the  machine  at  the  highest  possible 
temperature,  must  be  protected  from  waste,  and  must  retain, 
at  the  moment  before  exhaust,  the  least  possible  amount  of 
heat.  He  whose  inventive  genius,  or  mechanical  skill,  con- 
tributes to  effect  either  the  use  of  higher  steam  with  safety 
and  without  waste,  or  the  reduction  of  the  temperature  of 
discharge,  confers  a  boon  upon  mankind. 

In  detail  :  In  the  engine,  the  tendency  is,  and  may  prob- 
ably be  expected  to  continue,  in  the  near  future  at  least, 
toward  higher  steam -pressure,  greater  expansion  in  more 
than  one  cylinder,  steam-jacketing,  superheating,  a  careful 
use  of  non-conducting  protectors  against  waste,  and  the 
adoption  of  still  higher  piston-speeds. 

In  the  boiler  :  more  complete  combustion  without  excess 
of  air  passing  through  the  furnace,  and  more  thorough  ab- 
sorption of  heat  from  the  furnace-gases.  The  latter  will 
probably  be  ultimately  effected  by  the  use  of  a  mechani- 
cally produced  draught,  in  place  of  the  far  more  wasteful 
method  of  obtaining  it  by  the  expenditure  of  heat  in  the 
chimney. 


472  THE  PHILOSOPHY   OF   THE   STEAM-ENGINE. 

In  construction  we  may  anticipate  the  use  of  better  ma- 
terials, and  more  careful  workmanship,  especially  in  the 
boiler,  and  much  improvement  in  forms  and  proportions  of 
details. 

In  management,  there  is  a  wide  field  for  improvement, 
which  improvement  we  may  feel  assured  will  rapidly  take 
place,  as  it  has  now  become  well  understood  that  great  care, 
skill,  and  intelligence  are  important  essentials  to  the  eco- 
nomical management  of  the  steam-engine,  and  that  they 
repay,  liberally,  all  of  the  expense  in  time  and  money  that 
is  requisite  to  secure  them. 

In  attempting  improvements  in  the  directions  indicated, 
it  would  be  the  height  of  folly  to  assume  that  we  have 
reached  a  limit  in  any  one  of  them,  or  even  that  we  have 
approached  a  limit.  If  further  progress  seems  checked  by 
inadequate  returns  for  efforts  made,  in  any  case,  to  ad- 
vance beyond  present  practice,  it  becomes  the  duty  of  the 
engineer  to  detect  the  cause  of  such  hinderance,  and,  having 
found  it,  to  remove  it. 

A  few  years  ago,  the  movement  toward  the  expansive 
working  of  high  steam  was  checked  by  experiments  seem- 
ing to  prove  positive  disadvantage  to  follow  advance  be- 
yond a  certain  point.  A  careful  revision  of  results,  how- 
ever, showed  that  this  was  true  only  with  engines  built,  as 
was  then  common,  in  utter  disregard  of  all  the  principles 
involved  in  such  a  use  of  steam,  and  of  the  precautions 
necessary  to  be  taken  to  insure  the  gain  which  science 
taught  us  should  follow.  The  hinderances  are  mechanical, 
and  it  is  for  the  engineer  to  remove  them. 

The  last  remark  is  especially  applicable  to  the  work  of 
the  engineer  who  is  attempting  to  advance  in  the  direction 
in  which,  as  already  intimated,  an  unmistakable  revolution 
is  now  progressing,  the  modification  of  the  modern  steam- 
engine  to  adapt  it  safely  and  successfully  to  run  at  the 
high  piston-speed,  and  great  velocity  of  rotation  which  have 
been  already  attained  and  which  must  undoubtedly  be 


ITS  APPLICATION.  473 

greatly  exceeded  in  the  future.  As  there  is  no  known  and 
definite  limit  to  the  economical  increase  of  speed,  and  as 
the  limit  set  by  practical  conditions  is  continually  being  set 
farther  back  as  the  builder  acquires  greater  skill  and  at- 
tains greater  accuracy  of  workmanship  and  the  power  to 
insure  greater  rigidity  of  parts  and  durability  of  wearing 
surfaces,  we  must  anticipate  a  continued  and  indefinite 
progress  in  this  direction — a  progress  which  must  evidently 
be  of  advantage,  whatever  may  be  the  direction  that  other 
changes  may  take. 

It  is  evident  that  this  adaptation  of  the  steam-engine  to 
great  speed  of  piston  is  the  work  now  to  be  done  by  the 
engineer.  The  requisites  to  success  are  obvious,  and  may  be 
concisely  stated  as  follows  : 

1.  Extreme  accuracy  in  proportions. 

2.  Perfect  accuracy  in  fitting  parts  to  each  other. 

3.  Absolute  symmetry  of  journals. 

4.  Ample  area  and  maximum  durability  of  rubbing  sur- 
faces. 

5.  Perfect  certainty  of  an  ample  and  continuous  lubrica- 
tion. 

6.  A  nicely  calculated  and  adjusted  balance  of  recipro- 
cating parts. 

7.  Security  against  injury  by  shock,  whether  due  to  the 
presence  of  water  in  the  cylinder  or  to  looseness  of  running 
parts. 

8.  A  "  positive-motion  "  cut-off  gear. 

9.  A  powerful   but   sensitive   and    accurately-working 
governor  determining  the  degree  of  expansion.1 

1  The  author  is  not  absolutely  confident  on  the  latter  point.  It  may  be 
found  more  economical  and  satisfactory,  ultimately,  to  determine  the  point 
of  cut-off  by  an  automatic  apparatus  adjusting  the  expansion-gear  by  refer- 
ence to  the  steam-pressure,  regulating  the  speed  by  attaching  the  governor 
elsewhere.  The  author  has  devised  several  forms  of  apparatus  of  the  kind 
referred  to. 


474  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  THE  STEAM-ENGINE. 

10.  "Well-balanced  valves  and  an  easy-working  valve-gear. 

11.  Small  volume  of  "dead-space,"  or  "clearance,"  and 
properly  adjusted  "  compression." 

It  would  seem  sufficiently  evident  that  the  engine  with 
detachable  ("  drop  ")  cut-off  valve-gear  must,  sooner  or  later, 
become  an  obsolete  type,  although  the  substitution  of  springs 
or  of  steam-pressure  for  gravity  in  the  closing  of  the  de- 
tached valve  may  defer  greatly  this  apparently  inevitable 
change.  The  "  engine  of  the  future  "  will  not  probably  be 
a  "  drop  cut-off  engine." 

As  regards  the  construction  of  the  engine  as  a  piece  of 
mechanism,  the  principles  and  practice  of  good  engineering 
are  precisely  the  same,  whether  applied  in  the  designing  of 
the  compound  or  of  the  ordinary  type  of  steam-engine. 
The  proportioning  of  the  two  machines  to  each  other  in 
such  manner  as  to  form  an  effective  whole,  by  procuring 
approximately  equal  amounts  of  work  from  both,  is  the 
only  essential  peculiarity  of  compound-engine  design  which 
calls  for  especial  care,  and  the  method  of  securing  success 
in  practice  may  be  stated  to  be,  for  both  forms  of  engines, 
as  follows  : 

1.  A  good  design,  by  which  is  meant — 

a.  Correct  proportions,  both  in  general  dimensions  and 
in  arrangement  of  parts,  and  proper  forms  and  sizes  of  de- 
tails to  withstand  safely  the  forces  which  may  be  expected 
to  come  upon  them. 

b.  A  general  plan  which  embodies  the  recognized  prac- 
tice of  good  engineering. 

c.  Adaptation  to  the  specific  work  which  it  is  intended 
to  perform,  in  size  and  in  efficiency.    It  sometimes  happens 
that  good  practice  dictates  the  use  of  a  comparatively  un- 
economical design. 

2.  Good  construction,  by  which  is  meant — 

a.  The  use  of  good  material. 

b.  Accurate  workmanship. 

c.  Skillful  fitting  and  a  proper  "  assemblage  "  of  parts. 


ITS  APPLICATION.  475 

3.  Proper  connection  with  its  work,  that  it  may  do  that 
work  under  the  conditions  assumed  in  its  design. 

4.  Skillful  management  by  those  in  whose  hands  it  is 
placed. 

In  general,  it  may  be  stated  that,  to  secure  maximum 
economical  efficiency,  steam  should  be  worked  at  as  high  a 
pressure  as  possible,  and  the  expansion  should  be  fixed  as 
nearly  as  possible  at  the  point  of  maximum  economy  for 
that  pressure.  In  general,  the  number  of  times  which  the 
volume  of  steam  may  be  expanded  in  the  standard  single- 
cylinder,  high-pressure  engine  with  maximum  economy,  is 
not  far  from  £  Vp,  where  P  is  the  pressure  in  pounds  per 
square  inch  ;  it  rarely  exceeds  0.75  VP.  This  may  be  ex- 
ceeded in  double-cylinder  engines.  It  is  even  more  disad- 
vantageous to  cut  off  too  short  than  to  "  '  follow '  too  far." 
With  considerable  expansion,  steam- jacketing  and  moder- 
ate superheating  should  be  adopted,  to  prevent  excessive 
losses  by  internal  condensation  and  reevaporation  ;  and 
expansion  should  take  place  in  double  cylinders,  to  avoid 
excessive  weight  of  parts,  irregularity  of  motion,  and  great 
loss  by  friction. 

To  secure  this  vitally  important  economy,  it  is  advisable 
to  seek  some  practicable  method  of  lining  the  cylinder  with 
a  non-conducting  material.  This  plan,  as  has  been  seen, 
was  adopted  by  Smeaton,  in  constructing  Newcomen  en- 
gines a  century  ago.  Smeaton  used  wood  on  his  pistons, 
and  Watt  tried  wood  as  a  material  for  steam-cylinder  lin- 
ings. That  material  is  too  perishable  at  temperatures  now 
common,  and  no  metal  has  yet  been  substituted,  or  even 
discovered,  which  answers  the  same  purpose.  The  loss  will 
also  be  reduced  by  increasing  the  speed  of  rotation  and  ve- 
locity of  piston.  Where  no  effectual  means  can  be  found 
of  preventing  contact  of  the  steam  with  a  good  absorbent 
and  conductor  of  heat,  it  will  be  found  best  to  sacrifice 
some  of  the  efficiency  due  to  the  change  of  state  of  the 
vapor,  by  superheating  it  and  sending  it  into  the  cylinder 


476  THE   PHILOSOPHY   OF   THE   STEAM-ENGINE. 

at  a  temperature  considerably  exceeding  that  of  saturation. 
With  low  steam  and  slowly-moving  pistons,  it  is  better  to 
pursue  the  latter  course  than  to  attempt  to  increase  the  effi- 
ciency of  the  engine  by  greater  expansion. 

External  surfaces  should  be  carefully  covered  by  non- 
conductors and  non-radiators,  to  prevent  losses  by  conduc- 
tion and  radiation  of  heat.  It  is  especially  necessary  to 
reduce  back-pressure  and  to  obtain  the  most  perfect  vacuum 
possible  without  overloading  the  air-pump,  if  it  is  desired 
to  obtain  the  maximum  efficiency  by  expansion,  and  it  then 
becomes  also  very  necessary  to  reduce  losses  by  "  dead- 
spaces  "  and  by  badly-adjusted  valves. 

The  piston-speed  should  be  as  great  as  can  be  sustained 
with  safety. 

200 
Good  engines  should  not  require  more  than  W  =  —r—> 

where  W  =  the  weight  of  steam  per  hour  and  per  horse- 
power ;  the  best  practice  gives  about  W  —  —==  in  large  en- 
gines with  diy  steam,  high  piston-speed,  and  good  design, 
construction,  and  management. 

The  expansion-valve  gear  should  be  simple.  The  point 
of  cut-off  is  perhaps  best  determined  by  the  governor.  The 
valve  should  close  rapidly,  but  without  shock,  and  should 
be  balanced,  or  some  other  device  should  be  adopted  to 
make  it  easy  to  move  and  free  from  liability  to  cutting  or 
rapid  wear. 

The  governor  should  act  promptly  and  powerfully,  and 
should  be  free  from  liability  to  oscillate,  and  to  thus  intro- 
duce irregularities  which  are  sometimes  not  less  serious  than 
those  which  the  instrument  is  intended  to  prevent. 

Friction  should  be  reduced  as  much  as  possible,  and  care- 
ful provision  should  be  made  to  economize  lubricants  as 
well  as  fuel. 

The  Principles  of  Steam-Boiler  Construction  are  exceed- 
ingly simple  ;  and  although  attempts  are  almost  daily  made 


ITS  APPLICATION.  477 

to  obtain  improved  results  by  varying  the  design  and  ar- 
rangement of  heating-surface,  the  best  boilers  of  nearly  all 
makers  of  acknowledged  standing  are  practically  equal  in 
merit,  although  of  very  diverse  forms. 

In  making  boilers,  the  effort  of  the  engineer  should 
evidently  be  : 

1.  To  secure  complete  combustion  of  the  fuel  without 
permitting  dilution  of  the  products  of  combustion  by  excess 
of  air. 

2.  To  secure  as  high  temperature  of  furnace  as  possible. 

3.  To  so  arrange  heating-surfaces  that,  without  check- 
ing draught,  the  available  heat  shall  be  most  completely 
taken  up  and  utilized. 

4.  To  make  the  form  of  boiler  such   that  it  shall  be 
constructed  without  mechanical  difficulty  or  excessive  ex- 
pense. 

5.  To  give  it  such  form  that  it  shall  be  durable,  under 
the  action  of  the  hot  gases  and  of  the  corroding  elements 
of  the  atmosphere. 

6.  To  make  every  part  accessible  for  cleaning  and  re- 
pairs. 

7.  To  make  every  part  as  nearly  as  possible  uniform  in 
strength,  and  in  liability  to  loss  of  strength  by  wear  and 
tear,  so  that  the  boiler  when  old  shall  not  be  rendered  use- 
less by  local  defects. 

8.  To  adopt  a  reasonably  high  "factor  of  safety"  in 
proportioning  parts. 

9.  To  provide  efficient  safety-valves,  steam-gauges,  and 
other  appurtenances. 

10.  To    secure   intelligent   and  very   careful   manage- 
ment. 

In  securing  complete  combustion,  the  first  of  these  de- 
siderata, an  ample  supply  of  air  and  its  thorough  intermixt- 
ure with  the  combustible  elements  of  the  fuel  are  essential ; 
for  the  second — high  temperature  of  furnace — it  is  necessary 
that  the  air-supply  shall  not  be  in  excess  of  that  absolutely 


478  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  THE  STEAM-ENGINE. 

needed  to  give  complete  combustion.  The  efficiency  of  a 
furnace  in  making  heat  available  is  measured  by 

E  =  T^T; 

in  which  E  represents  the  ratio  of  heat  utilized  to  the  whole 
calorific  value  of  the  fuel,  T  is  the  furnace-temperature, 
T'  the  temperature  of  the  chimney,  and  t  that  of  the  exter- 
nal air.  The  higher  the  furnace-temperature  and  the  lower 
that  of  the  chimney,  the  greater  the  proportion  of  heat 
available.  It  is  further  evident  that,  however  perfect  the 
combustion,  no  heat  can  be  utilized  if  either  the  tempera- 
ture of  the  chimney  approximates  to  that  of  the  furnace,  or 
if  the  temperature  of  the  furnace  is  reduced  by  dilution 
approximately  to  that  of  the  boiler.  Concentration  of 
heat  in  the  furnace  is  secured,  in  some  cases,  by  special 
expedients,  as  by  heating  the  entering  air,  or  as  in  the  Sie- 
mens gas-furnace,  heating  both  the  combustible  gases  and 
the  supporter  of  combustion.  Detached  fire-brick  furnaces 
have  an  advantage  over  the  "  fire-boxes  "  of  steam-boilers 
in  their  higher  temperature  ;  surrounding  the  fire  with  non- 
conducting and  highly  heated  surfaces  is  an  effective  method 
of  securing  high  furnace-temperature. 

In  arranging  heating-surface,  the  effort  should  be  to  im- 
pede the  draught  as  little  as  possible,  and  so  to  place  them 
that  the  circulation  of  water  within  the  boiler  should  be 
free  and  rapid  at  every  part  reached  by  the  hot  gases.  The 
directions  of  circulation  of  water  on  the  one  side  and  of  gas 
on  the  other  side  the  sheet  should,  whenever  possible,  be  op- 
posite. The  cold  water  should  enter  where  the  cooled  gases 
leave,  and  the  steam  should  be  taken  off  farthest  from  that 
point.  The  temperature  of  chimney-gases  has  thus  been 
reduced  in  practice  to  less  than  300°  Fahr.,  and  an  efficiency 
equal  to  0.75  to  0.80  the  theoretical  has  been  attained. 

The  extent  of  heating- surf  ace  simply,  in  all  of  the  best 
forms  of  boiler,  determines  the  efficiency,  and  in  them  the 
disposition  of  that  surface  seldom  affects  it  to  any  great 


ITS  APPLICATION.  479 

extent.  The  area  of  heating-surface  may  also  be  varied 
within  very  wide  limits  without  very  greatly  modifying 
efficiency.  A  ratio  of  25  to  1  in  flue  and  30  to  1  in  tubular 
boilers  represents  the  relative  area  of  heating  and  grate 
surfaces  as  chosen  in  the  practice  of  the  best-known  builders. 

The  material  of  the  boiler  should  be  tough  and  ductile 
iron,  or,  better,  a  soft  steel  containing  only  sufficient  carbon 
to  insure  melting  in  the  crucible  or  on  the  hearth  of  the 
melting-furnace,  and  so  little  that  no  danger  may  exist  of 
hardening  and  cracking  under  the  action  of  sudden  and 
great  changes  of  temperature. 

Where  iron  is  used,  it  is  necessary  to  select  a  somewhat 
hard,  but  homogeneous  and  tough,  quality  for  the  fire-box 
sheets  or  any  part  exposed  to  flames. 

The  factor  of  safety  is  invariably  too  low  in  this  coun- 
try, and  is  never  too  high  in  Europe.  Foreign  builders  are 
more  careful  in  this  matter  than  our  makers  in  the  United 
States.  The  boiler  should  be  built  strong  enough  to  bear  a 
pressure  at  least  six  times  the  proposed  working-pressure  ; 
as  the  boiler  grows  weak  with  age,  it  should  be  occasionally 
tested  to  a  pressure  far  above  the  working-pressure,  which 
latter  should  be  reduced  gradually  to  keep  within  the  bounds 
of  safety.  In  the  United  States,  the  factor  of  safety  is 
seldom  more  than  four  in  the  new  boilers,  frequently  much 
less,  and  even  this  is  reduced  practically  to  one  and  a  third 
by  the  operation  of  our  inspection-laws. 

The  principles  just  enunciated  are  those  generally,  per- 
haps universally,  accepted  principles  which  are  stated  in  all 
text-books  of  science  and  of  steam-engineering,  and  are  ac- 
cepted by  both  engineers  and  men  of  science. 

These  principles  are  correct,  and  the  deductions  which 
have  been  here  formulated  are  rigidly  exact,  as  applied  to 
all  types  of  heat-engine  in  use  ;  and  they  lead  us  to  the  de- 
termination, in  all  cases,  of  the  "  modulus  "  of  efficiency  of 
the  engine,  i.  e.,  to  the  calculation  of  the  ratio  of  its  actual 
efficiency  to  that  efficiency  which  it  would  have,  were  it 


480  THE  PHILOSOPHY   OF  THE   STEAM-EXGINE. 

absolutely  free  from  loss  of  heat  by  conduction  or  radiation, 
or  other  method  of  loss  of  heat  or  waste  of  power,  by  fric- 
tion of  parts  or  by  shock. 

The  best  modern  marine  compound  engines  sometimes, 
as  we  have  seen,  consume  as  little  as  two  pounds  of  coal  per 
horse-power  and  per  hour  ;  but  this  is  but  about  one-tenth 
the  power  derivable  from  the  fuel,  were  all  its  heat  thor- 
oughly utilized.  This  loss  may  be  divided  thus  :  70  per 
cent,  rejected  in  exhausted  steam  ;  20  per  cent,  lost  by  con- 
duction and  radiation  and  by  faults  of  mechanism  and  de- 
sign ;  and  only  the  10  per  cent,  remaining  is  utilized.  Thirty 
per  cent,  of  the  heat  generated  in  the  furnace  is  usually  lost 
in  the  chimney,  and  of  the  remainder,  which  enters  the  en- 
gine, 20  per  cent,  at  most  is  all  which  we  can  hope  to  save 
any  portion  of  by  improvements  effected  in  our  best  exist- 
ing type  of  steam-engine.  It  has  already  been  shown  how 
the  engineer  can  best  proceed  in  attempting  this  economy. 

The  direction  in  which  further  improvement  must  take 
place  in  the  standard  type  of  engine  is  plainly  that  which 
shall  most  efficiently  check  losses  by  internal  condensation 
and  reevaporation  by  the  transfer  of  heat  to  and  from  the 
metal  of  the  steam-cylinder.  The  condensation  of  steam 
doing  work  is  evidently  not  a  disadvantage,  but,  on  the  con- 
trary, a  decided  advantage. 

A  new  type  of  engine  can,  if  at  all,  probably  only 
supersede  the  common  form  when  engineers  can  employ 
steam  of  very  high  pressure,  and  adopt  much  greater  range 
of  expansion  than  is  now  usual.  Great  velocity  of  piston 
and  high  speed  of  rotation  are  also  essential  in  the  attempt  to 
make  any  revolution  in  steam-engine  construction  a  success. 

When  a  new  form  of  steam-engine  is  likely  to  be  in- 
troduced, if  at  all,  can  be  scarcely  even  conjectured.  It 
seems  evident  that  its  success  is  to  be  secured,  if  a  revo- 
lution is  ever  to  occur,  by  the  adoption  of  high  steam- 
pressures,  of  great  piston-speeds,  by  care  and  skill  in  design, 
by  the  use  of  exceptionally  excellent  materials  of  construe- 


ITS  APPLICATION. 


481 


tion,  by  great  perfection  of  workmanship,  and  by  intelli- 
gence in  its  management. 

Experiment  and  experience  will  probably  lead  gradually 
to  the  general  and  safe  employment  of  much  higher  steam- 
pressures  and  very  greatly  increased  piston-speeds,  and  may 
ultimately  reveal  and  remove  all  those  difficulties  which 
must  invariably  be  expected  to  be  met  here,  as  in  all  other 
attempts  to  effect  radical  changes,  however  important  they 
may  be. 


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and  some  of  the  author's  experiments  are  exceedingly  picturesque  in  their  re- 
sults. They  are  so  lucidly  described,  too.  that  the  reader  keeps  on,  from  page 
to  pasre,  never  flanging  in  interest  in  the  natter  before  him,  nor  putting  down 
tUe  book  until  the  last  page  is  reached." — New  York  Evening  Express. 

D.  APPLETON  &  CO.,  Publishers, 

1,  3,  <&  5  BOND  STREET,  New  YORK. 


Scientific  Publications. 


GENERAL  PHYSIOLOGY  OF  MUSCLES  AND  NERVES.    By  Dr.  I. 

ROBENTHAL,  Professor  of  Physiology  at  the  University  of  Erlangen.  With 
seventy-five  Woodcutu.  ("  International  Scientific  Series.")  12mo,  cloth, 
$1.50. 

"The  attempt  at  a  connected  account  of  the  general  physiology  of  muscles 
hnd  nerves  is,  as  far  as  I  know,  the  first  of  its  kind.  The  general  data  for  this 
branch  of  science  have  been  gained  only  within  the  past  thirty  years."— Extract 
from  Preface. 

SIGHT :  An  Exposition  of  the  Principles  of  Monocular  and  Binocular  Vision 
By  JOSEPH  LE  CONTE,  LL. D.,  author  of  "Elements  of  Geology";  "Re- 
ligion and  Science  "  ;  and  Professor  of  Geology  and  Natural  History  in  the 
University  of  California.  With  numerous  Illustrations.  12mo,  cloth,  $1.50. 

"It  is  pleasant  to  find  an  American  book  which  can  rank  with  the  very  best 
of  foreign  works  on  this  subject.  Professor  Le  Conte  has  long  been  known  as 
an  oriiiinal  investigator  in  this  department;  all  that  he  gives  us  is  treated  with 
a  master-hand." — The  Nation. 

ANIMAL,  LIFE,  as  aflected  1>y  the  Natural  Conditions  of  Existence.  By 
KARL  SEMPER,  Professor  of  the  University  of  Wurzburg.  With  2  Maps 
and  106  Woodcuts,  and  Index.  12mo,  cloth,  $2.00. 

"  This  is  in  many  respects  one  of  the  most  interesting  contributions  to 
zoological  literature  which  has  appeared  for  sotne  time."— Nature. 

THE  ATOMIC  THEORY.  By  AD.  WUBTZ.  Membre  de  Hnstitnt ;  Doyen 
Honoraire  de  la  Faculte  de  Medecine  ;  Professeura  la  Faculte  des  Sciences 
de  Paris.  Translated  by  E.  CLEMINSHAW,  M.  A..  F.  C.  S.,  F.  I.  C.,  Assist 
ant  Master  at  Sherborne  School.  12mo,  cloth,  $1.50. 

"  There  was  need  for  a  book  like  this,  which  discusses  the  atomic  theory  both 
in  its  historic  evolution  and  in  its  present  form.  And  perhaps  no  man  of  this 
aire  could  have  been  selected  so  able  to  perform  the  task  in  a  masterly  way  as 
the  illustrious  French  chemist,  Adolph  Wurtz.  It  is  impossible  to  convey  to  the 
reader,  in  a  notice  like  this,  any  adequate  idea  of  the  scope,  lucid  instructiveness, 
and  scientific  interest  of  Professor  Wurtz's  book.  The  modern  problems  of 
chemistry,  which  are  commonly  so  obscure  from  imperfect  exposition,  are  here 
made  wonderfully  clear  and  attractive." — The  Popular  Science  Monthly. 

THE  CRAYFISH.  An  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  Zo51ogy.  By  Professor 
T.  H.  HUXLEY,  F.  R.  S.  With  82  Illustrations.  12mo,  cloth,  $1.75. 

"  Whoever  will  follow  these  pages,  crayfish  in  hand,  nnd  will  try  to  verify  for 
himself  the  statements  which  they  contain,  will  find  himself  brought  face  to  face, 
with  all  the  sreat  zoological  questions  which  excite  so  lively  an  interest  at  the* 
present  day." 

"The  reader  of  this  valuable  monograph  will  lay  it  down  with  a  feeling  of 
wonder  at  the  amount,  and  variety  of  matter  which  has  been  got  out  of  so  seem- 
icgly  slight  and  unpretending  a  subject." — Saturday  Review. 

D.  APPLETON   &   CO.,  Publishers, 

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SUICIDE  :  An  Essay  in  Comparative  Moral  Statistics.  By  HF.NRT  MOBBELLI,  Pro. 
fessor  of  Psychological  Medicine  in  Royal  University,  Turin.  1'Jmo,  Cloth,  *l.t5. 
"  Suicide  "  is  a  scientific  inquiry,  on  the  basis  of  the  statistical  method,  into  the  laws 
of  suicidal  phenomena.  Dealing  with  the  subject  as  a  branch  of  social  science,  it  con- 
siders the  increase  of  suicide  in  different  countries,  and  the  comparison  of  nations, 
races,  and  periods  in  its  manifestation.  The  influences  of  age,  sex.  constitution,  cli- 
mate, season,  occupation,  religion,  prevailing  ideas,  the  elements  of  character,  and  the 
tendencies  of  civilization,  are  comprehensively  analyzed  in  their  bearing-  upon  the  pro- 
Density  to  self-destruction.  Professor  Morselli  is  an  eminent  European  authority  on 
Shis  subject.  It  is  accompanied  by  colored  maps  illustrating  pictoriully  the  result*  of 
statistical  inquiries. 

VOLCANOES  :  What  they  Are  and  what  they  Teach.    By  J.  W.  JCT>D, 

Professor  of  Geology  in  the  Royal  School  of  Mines  (London).  With  Ninety -six 
Illustrations.  12mo.  Cloth,  $2.00. 

"  In  no  field  has  modern  research  been  more  fruitful  than  in  that  of  which  Professor 
Judd  gives  a  popular  account  in  the  present  volume.  The  great  lines  of  dynamical, 
geological,  and  meteorological  inquiry  converge  upon  the  grand  problem  of  the  interior 
constitution  of  the  earth,  and  the  vast  influence  of  subterranean  agencies.  .  .  .  KIs 
book  is  very  far  from  being  a  mere  dry  description  of  volcanoes  and  their  eruptions ;  it 
is  rather  a  presentation  of  the  terrestrial  facts  and  laws  with  which  volcanic  phenomeba 
are  associated.1' — Popular  Science  Monthly. 

"  The  volume  before  us  is  one  of  the  pleasantest  science  manuals  we  have  read  for 
some  time.'1 — Athenaeum. 

'•  Mr.  .fluid's  summary  is  so  full  and  so  concise  that  it  is  almost  impossible  to  give 
a  fair  idea  in  a  short  review."—/1^  Mall  Gazette. 

THE  SUN.  By  C.  A.  Torrs"o.  Ph.  D..  LL.  D.,  Professor  of  Astronomy  in  the  College 
of  New  Jersey.  With  numerous  illustrations.  12mo.  Cloth,  *2".00. 

"  Professor  Young  is  an  authority  on  '  The  Sun,'  and  writes  from  intimate  knowl- 
edge. He  has  studied  that  grest  luminary  all  his  life,  invented  and  improved  instru- 
ments for  observing  it,  gone  to  all  quarters  of  the  world  in  search  of  tbe  best  places 
and  opportunities  to  watch  it,  and  has  contributed  important  discoveries  that  have 
extended  our  knowledge  of  it. 

'•  It  would  take  a  cyclopaedia  to  represent  all  that  has  been  done  toward  clearing  up 
the  solar  mysteries.  Professor  Young  has  summarized  the  information,  and  presented 
it  in  a  form  completely  available  for  general  readers.  There  is  no  rhetoric  in  his  book ; 
he  trusts  the  pr.indeur  of  his  theme  to  kindle  interest  and  impress  the  feelings.  His 
statements  are  plain,  direct,  clear,  and  condensed,  though  ample  enough  for  his  purpose, 
and  the  substance  of  what  is  generally  wanted  will  be  found  accurately  given  in  his 
pages." — Popular  Science  Monthly. 

ILLUSIONS  :  A  Psychological  Study.  By  JAMES  SCLLT,  author  of  "  Sensa- 
tion and  Intuition,"  etc.  l*<!ino.  Cloth,  $1.50. 

This  volume  takes  a  wide  survey  of  the  field  of  error,  embracing  in  its  view  not  only 
the  illusions  commonly  regarded  as  of  the  nature  of  mental  aberrations  or  hallucina- 
tions, but  also  other  illusions  arising  from  that  capacity  for  error  which  belongs  essen- 
tially to  rational  human  nature.  The  author  has  endeavored  to  keep  to  a  strictly  scien- 
tific treatment— that  is  to  say,  the  description  and  classification  of  acknowledged  errors, 
and  the  exposition  of  them  by  a  reference  to  their  psychical  and  physical  conditions. 

"  This  is  not  a  technical  work,  but  one  of  wide  popular  interest  in  the  principles  and 
results  of  which  every  one  is  concerned.  The  illusions  of  perception  of  the  senses  and 
of  dreams  are  first  considered,  and  then  the  author  passes  to  the  illusions  of  introspec 
tion,  errors  of  insight,  illusions  of  memory,  and  illusions  of  belief.  The  work  is  a  note- 
worthy contribution  to  the  original  progress  of  thought,  and  may  bt  relied  upon  as 
representing  the  present  state  of  knowledge  on  the  important  subject  to  which  it  is 
devoted." — Popular  Science  Monthly. 

D.  APPLETON  &  CO.,  Publishers, 

1.  3.  and  5  Bond  Street,  New  York. 


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THE  BRAIN  AND  ITS  FUNCTIONS.  By  J.  LUYS,  Physician  to  the 
Hoapice  de  la  SalpetriSre.  With  Illustrations.  12mo.  Clotli,  $1.50. 

"No  living  physiologist  is  better  entitled  to  speak  with  authority  upon  tho 
structure  and  functions  of  the  brain  than  Dr.  Luys.  His  studies  on  the  anatomy 
of  the  nervous  system  are  acknowledged  to  be  the  tallest  and  most  systematic 
ever  undertaken.  Dr.  Luys  supports  his  conclusions  not  only  by  his  own  ana- 
tomical researches,  but  also  by  many  functional  observations  of  various  other 
physiologist*,  including  of  course  Professor  Ferriur's  now  classical  experi- 
ments."— St.  James's  Gazette. 

"Dr.  Luys,  at  the  head  of  the  great  French  Insane  Asylum,  is  one  of  the  most 
eminent  and  successful  investigators  of  cerebral  science  now  living;  and  he  has 
given  unquestionably  the  clearest  and  most  interesting  brief  account  yet  made  of 
the  structure  and  operations  of  the  brain.  We  have  been  fascinated  by  this  vol- 
ume more  than  by  any  other  treatise  we  have  yet  seen  on  the  machinery  of  sen- 
sibility and  thought ;  and  we  have  been  instructed  not  only  by  much  that  is  new, 
but  by  many  sagacious  practical  hints  such  as  it  is  well  for  everybody  to  under- 
stand."— The  Popular  Science  Monthly. 

TOE  CONCEPTS  AND  THEORIES  OF  MODERN  PHYSICS.  Cy 

J.  B.  STALLO.    12mo.    Cloth,  $1.75. 

"Judge  Stallo's  work  is  an  inquiry  into  the  validity  of  those  mechanical  con- 
ceptions of  the  universe  which  are  now  held  as  fundamental  in  physical  science. 
He  takes  up  the  leading  modern  doctrines  which  are  based  upon  this  mechanical 
conception,  such  as  the  atomic  constitution  of  matter,  the  kinetic  theory  of  gases, 
the  conservation  of  energy,  the  nebular  hypothesis,  and  other  views,  to  find  how 
much  stands  upon  solid  empirical  uround.  and  how  much  rests  upon  metaphys- 
ical speculation.  Since  the  appearance  of  Dr.  Draper's  'Religion  and  Science,' 
no  hook  has  been  published  in  the  country  calculated  to  make  so  deep  an  impres- 
sion on  thoughtful  and  educated  readers  as  this  volume.  .  .  .  The  range  and 
minuteness  oT  the  author's  learning,  the  acuteness  of  his  reasoning,  and  the 
singular  precision  and  clearness  of  his  style,  are  qualities  which  very  seldom 
have  been  jointly  exhibited  in  a  scientific  treatise." — New  York  Sun. 

THE  FORMATION  OF  VEGETABLE  MOULD,  THROUGH  THI 
ACTION  OF  WORMS,  WITH  OBSERVATIONS  ON  THEIR 
HABITS.  By  CHARLES  DARWTN,  LL.  D.,  F.  R.  S.,  author  of  "On  the 
Origin  of  Species,"  etc.,  etc.  With  Illustrations.  12mo,  cloth.  Price,  $1.50. 

"  Mr.  Darwin's  little  volume  on  the  habits  and  instincts  of  earth-worms  is  no 
less  marked  than  the  earlier  or  more  elaborate  efforts  of  his  genius  by  freshness 
of  observation,  unfailing  power  of  interpreting  and  correlating  facts,  and  logical 
vigor  in  generalizing  upon  them.  The  main  purpose  of  the  work  is  to  point  out 
the  share  which  worms  have  taken  in  the  formation  of  the  layer  of  vegetable 
mould  which  covers  the  whole  surface  of  the  land  in  every  moderately  humid 
country.  All  lovers  of  nature  will  unite  in  thanking  Mr.  Darwin  for  the  new  and 
interesting  li<rht  he  has  thrown  upon  a  subject  FO  long  overlooked,  yet  so  full  of 
interest  and  instruction,  as  the  structure  and  the  labors  of  the  earth-worm."— 
Saturday  Beview. 

"  Respecting  worms  as  amon<r  the  most  nseful  portions  of  animate  natnre, 
Dr.  Darwin  relates,  in  thi?  remarkable  book,  their  structure  and  habits,  the  part 
they  have  played  in  the  burial  of  ancient  buildings  and  the  denudation  of  the 
land,  in  the  disintegration  of  rocks,  the  preparation  of  soil  for  the  growth  oJ 
plants,  and  in  the  natural  history  of  the  world." — Boston  Advertiser. 

D.  APPLETON  &  CO.,  Publishers, 

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Scientific  Publications, 


ANTS,  BEES,  AND  "WASPS.  A  Record  of  Observations  on  the  Habits  of  the 
Social  Hymenoptera.  By  Sir  JOHN  LUBBOCK,  Bart.,  M.  P.,  F.  K.  8.,  etc.,  author 
of  "  Origin  of  Civilization,  and  the  Primitive  Condition  of  Man, '  etc.,  etc.  With 
Colored  Plates.  12mo,  cloth,  t'2.00. 

"This  volume  contains  the  record  of  various  experiments  made  with  ants,  bees,  and 
wasps  during  the  last  ten  years,  with  a  view  to  test  their  mental  condition  and  powers 
of  sense.  The  principal  point  in  which  ^ir  John's  mode  of  experiment  diners  from 
those  of  Huber,  Forel,  McCook,  and  others,  is  that  he  has  carefully  watched  and 
marked  particular  insects,  and  has  had  then-  nests  under  observation  for  long  periods 
— one  of  his  ants'  uests  having  been  under  constant  inspection  ever  since  1S74.  His 
observations  are  made  principally  upon  ants  because  they  show  more  power  and  flexi- 
bility of  mind;  and  the  value  of  his  studies  is  that  they  "belong  to  the  department  of 
original  research." 

"  We  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that  the  author  has  presented  us  with  the  most 
valuable  series  of  observations  on  a  special  subject  that  has  ever  been  produced,  charm- 
ingly written,  full  of  logical  deductions,  and,  when  we  consider  his  multitudinous  en- 
gagements, a  remarkable  illustration  of  economy  of  time.  As  a  contribution  to  insect 
psychology,  it  will  be  long  before  this  book  finds  a  parallel." — London  Athenceum. 

DISEASES  OF  MEMORY :  An  Essay  to  the  Positive  Psychology.  By  TH. 
RIBOT,  author  of  "Heredity,"  etc.  Translated  from  the  French  by  William 
Huntington  Smith.  12mo,  cloth,  $150. 

"M.  Ribot  reduces  diseases  of  memory  to  law,  and  his  treatise  is  of  extraor- 
dinary interest."— Philadtlphii  Press. 

"Not  merely  to  scientific,  but  to  all  thinking  men,  this  volume  will  prove 
intensely  interesting." — New  York  Observer. 

"M.  Ribot  has  bestowed  the  most  painstaking  attention  upon  hi?  theme, 
and  numerous  examples  of  the  conditions  considered  greatly  increase  the  value 
and  interest  of  the  volume.'" — Philadelphia  North  American. 

"  To  the  general  reader  the  work  is  made  entertaining  by  many  illustrations 
connected  with  such  names  as  Linnaeus.  Newton.  Sir  Walter  Scott,  Horace  Ver- 
net,  Guatave  Dore,  and  many  others."— Harrisbwg  Telegraph. 

"The  whole  subject  is  presented  with  a  Frenchman's  vivacity  of  Btyle." — 
Providence  Journal. 

'•It  is  not  too  much,  to  say  that  in  no  Bingle  work  have  so  many  curious 
cises  been  brought  together  and  interpreted  in  a  scientific  manner."— Boston 
Evening  Traveller. 

MYTH  AND  SCIENCE.    By  TITO  VIGHOI.I.    12mo,  cloth,  price,  $1.69. 

"  His  book  is  ingenious ;  ...  his  theory  of  how  science  gradually  differen- 
tiated from  and  conquered  myth  is  extremely  well  wrought  out,  and  is  probably  in 
essentials  correct."— Saturday  Review. 

"The  book  is  a  strong  one,  and  far  more  interesting  to  the  general  reader  than  its 
title  would  indicate.  The  learning,  the  aouteness,  the  strong  reasoning  power,  and  the 
scientific  spirit  of  the  author,  command  admiration." — New  York  Christian  Advocate. 

"An  attempt  made,  with  much  ability  and  no  small  measure  of  success,  to  trace  the 
origin  and  development  of  the  myth.  1'he  author  has  pursued  his  inquiry  with  much 
patience  and  ingenuity,  and  has  "produced  a  very  readable  and  luminous  treatise."— 
Philadelphia  North  American. 

"  It  is  a  curious  if  not  startling  contribution  both  to  psychology  and  to  the  early 
lastory  of  man's  development." — New  York  World. 


For  sale  by  aU  booksellers ;  or  sent  by  mail,  post-paid,  on  receipt  of  price. 
New  York :  D.  APPLETON  &  CO.,  1,  3,  &  5  Bond  Street. 


Scientific  Publications. 

MAN  BEFOKE  METALS.  By  N.  JOLT,  Professor  at  the  Science  Faculty 
of  Toulouse;  Correspondent  of  the  Institute.  With  148  Illustrations,  liiino. 
Cloth,  $1.75. 

"  The  discussion  of  man's  origin  and  early  history,  by  Professor  De  Quatrefages, 
formed  one  of  the  most  useful  volumes  in  the  '  International  Scientific  Series,'  and 
the  same  collection  is  now  further  enriched  bv  a  popular  treatise  on  paleontology,  by 
M.  N.  Joly,  Professor  in  the  University  of  Toulouse.  The  title  of  the  book,  •  Man 
before  Metals,'  indicates  the  limitations  of  the  writer's  theme.  His  object  is  to  bring 
together  the  numerous  proofs,  collected  by  modern  research,  of  the  great  age  of  the 
human  race,  and  to  show  us  what  man  was.  in  respect  of  customs,  industries,  and 
moral  or  religious  ideas,  before  the  use  of  metals  was  known  to  hiin.v—  J\*ew  York 
Sun. 

"  An  interesting,  not  to  say  fascinating  volume."—  .Yew  York  Churchman. 

ANIMAL  INTELLIGENCE.    By  GEOBOH   J.   KOMAXF.S,  F.  It.  S.,  Zoological 

Secretary  of  the  Linnaean  Society,  etc.  12mo.  Cloth,  $1.75. 
"  My  object  in  the  work  as  a  whole  is  twofold  :  First,  I  have  thought  it  desirable 
that  there  should  be  something  resembling  a  text-book  of  the  facts  of  Comparative 
Psychology,  to  which  men  of  science,  and  also  metaphysicians,  may  turn  whenever 
they  have  occasion  to  acquaint  themselves  with  the  particular  level  of  intelligence 
to  which  this  or  that  species  of  animal  attains.  My  second  and  much  more  impor- 
tant object  is  that  of  considering  the  facts  of  animal  intelligent  in  their  relation  to  the 
theory  of  descent."—  From  the  Preface. 

"  Unless  we  are  greatly  mistaken,  Mr.  Romanes's  work  will  take  its  place  os  one 
of  the  most  attractive  volumes  of  the  '  International  Scientific  Series.'  Some  persons 


may,  indeed,  be  disposed  to  say  that  it  is  too  attractive,  that  it  feeds  the  popular  taste 
for  the  curious  and  marvelous  without  supplying  any  commensurate  discipline  in 
exact  scientific  reflection  ;  but  the  author  has,  we  think,  fully  justified  himself  in  his 


modest  preface.  The  resnlt  is  the  appearance  of  a  collection  of  facts  which  will  be 
real  boon  to  the  student  of  Comparative  Psychology  for  this  is  the  first  attempt  to 
present  systematically  well-assured  observations  on  the  mental  life  of  animals."—  Sat- 
urday Eeview. 

"  The  author  believes  himself,  not  without  ample  cause,  to  have  completely  bridged 
the  supposed  gap  between  instinct  and  reason  by  the  authentic  proofs  here  mar- 
shaled of  remarkable  intelligence  in  some  of  the  higher  animals.  It  is  the  seemingly 
conclusive  evidence  of  reasoning  powers  furnished  by  the  adaptation  of  means  to  ends 
in  cases  which  can  not  be  explained  on  the  theory  of  inherited  aptitude  or  habit."— 
New  York  Sun. 

THE  SCIENCE  OF  POLITICS.     By  SHELDON  AMOS,  M.  A.,  author  of  "The 
Science  of  Law,"  etc.    12mo.    Cloth,  $1.75. 

"  To  the  political  student  and  the  practical  statesman  it  ought  to  be  of  great  value." 
—  New  York  Herald. 

"  The  author  traces  the  subject  from  Plato  and  Aristotle  in  Greece,  and  Cicero  in 
Kome,  to  the  modern  schools  in  the  English  field,  not  slighting  the  teachings  of  the 
American  Revolution  or  the  lessons  of  the  French  Revolution  of  1798.  Forms  of  gov- 
ernment, political  terms,  the  relation  of  law.  written  and  unwritten,  to  the  subject,  a 
codification  from  Justinian  to  Napoleon  in  France  and  Field  in  America,  are  treated 
as  parts  of  the  subject  in  hand.  Necessarily  the  subjects  of  executive  and  legislative 
authority,  police,  liquor,  and  land  laws  are  considered,  and  the  question  ever  growing 
in  importance  in  all  countries,  the  relations  of  corporations  to  the  state."  —  A'ew  York 
Observer. 

New  York  :  D.  APPLETON  &  CO.,  1,  3,  &  5  Bond  Street. 


Scientific  Publications. 


T1IK  FUNDAMENTAL  CONCEPTS  OF  MODEKN  PHILOSOPHIC 
THOUGHT,  CRITICALLY  AND  HISTORICALLY  CONSiD^ 
ERED.  By  RUDOLPH  EUCKEN,  Ph.  D.,  Professor  in  Jena.  With  an 
Introduction  by  NOAH  POETEB,  President  of  Yale  College.  One  vol.,  12mo, 
304  pages.  Cloth.  Price,  $1.75. 

President  Porter  declares  of  this  work  that  "  there  are  few  books  within  his 
knowledge  which  are  bettur  fitted  to  aid  the  t-tudent  who  wishes  to  acquaint  him- 
self with  the  course  of  modern  speculation  and  scientific  thinking,  and  to  form 
au  intelligent  estimate  of  most  of  the  current  theories." 

MIND  IN  THE  LOWER  ANIMALS  IN  HEALTH  AND  DISEASE. 

By  W.  LAUDER  LINDSAY,  M.  D.,  F.  R.  S.  E.,  etc.    2  vols.,  8vo.    Cloth,  $4.00. 

"  The  author  of  this  work,  which,  regarded  merely  as  an  accumulation  of 
verified  and  classified  facts,  is  a  unique  and  precious  contribution  to  the  data  of 
comparative  psychology,  claims  that  lie  entered  on  his  inquiry  without  any  theory 
to  deiend,  support,  or  illustrate.  We  are  bound  to  say  that,  while  his  general 
conclusions  are  boldly  and  continually  avowed,  his  claim  of  lairness  and  caution 
is  justified  by  his  method  of  examining  particular  phenomena  ;  that  he  seems 
willing  at  all  times  to  renounce  any  impression  or  belief  which  ie  shown  to  be 
scientifically  untenable."—  Sew  York  Sun. 

"In  this  work — two  volumes  of  over  500  pages— Dr.  Lindsay  marshals  a  pro- 
portionately largo  number  of  facts  against  thone  philosophers  who  maintain  that 
the  intelligence  of  man  differs  in  kind  and  not  simply  in  degree  from  that  of  the 
lower  animals.  It  is  one  purpose  of  bis  book  to  now  that  the  main  differences 
between  man  and  the  lower  animals  exist  rather  in  their  physical  than  in  their 
mental  structure.  In  this  way  of  thinking,  all  animals  possess  not  the  semblance 
of,  but  the  true  substance  of  mind  and  will." — New  York  World. 

"  So  far  as  we  are  aware  there  has  been  no  treatise  upon  the  subject  of  animal 
intelligence  so  broad  in  its  foundations,  so  well  considered,  or  so  scientific  in  its 
methods  of  inquiry,  as  that  which  has  been  prepared  by  I)r.  W.  Lauder  Lindsay 
in  two  large  volumes,  the  first  being  devoted  to  a  study  of  animal  mind  in  health, 
and  the  second  to  animal  mind  in  disease.  We  may  safely  say  that  his  wcrk  is, 
in  some  respects,  the  most  important  esfay  of  the  kind  that  has  yet  been  under- 
taken. Bis  observations  have  been  supplemented  by  a  thorough  mastery  of  the 
history  and  literature  of  the  subject,  and  hence  his  conclusions  rest  upon  the 
broadest  possible  foundation  of  safe  induction.  There  is  a  srood  analytical  index 
to  the  book,  as  there  ought  to  be  to  every  work  of  the  kind." — Sew  York  Ecening 

THE  ELEMENTARY  PRINCIPLES  OF  SCIENTIFIC  AGRICULT- 
URE. By  N.  T.  LUPTON,  LL.  D.,  Professor  of  Chemistry  in  Vanderbilt 
University,  Nashville,  Tenn.  18mo.  Cloth.  Price,  45  cents. 

A  GLOSSARY  OF  BIOLOGICAL,  ANATOMICAL,  AND  PHYSIO- 
LOGICAL TERMS.  By  THOMAS  DUNMAN.  Small  8vo.  Cloth.  161 
pages.  Price,  $1.00. 

"  It  has  been  the  author's  task  to  furnish  here  a  small  and  convenient  hut  very 
complete  glossary  of  those  terms  ;  and  he  has  done  this  so  well.hoih  in  his  choice 
of  terms  for  definition  and  in  his  clear  exposition  ot  their  etymological  and  tech- 
nical meaning,  ns  to  leave  nothing  to  be  desired  in  this  direction." — A'tw  Ywk 
Evening  Post.  

For  sale  by  all  booksellers,  or  any  work  sent  by  mail,  post-paid,  on  receipt  of  price. 


D.  APPLETON  &  CO.,  Publishers, 

1,  3,  and  5  Bond  Street,  New  York. 


SCIENTIFIC  LECTURES  AND  ESSAYS. 


Popular  Lectures  on  Scientific  Subjects.    By  H. 

HELMHOLTZ,  Professor  of  Physics  in  the  University  of  Berlin.  First 
Series.  Translated  by  E.  ATKINSON,  Ph.  D.,  F.  C.  S.  With  an  Intro- 
duction  by  Professor  TVNDALL.  With  61  Illustrations.  12mo. 
Cloth,  $2.00. 

CONTENTS.— On  the  Relation  of  Natural  Science  to  Science  in  General.— 
On  Goethe's  Scientific  Researches.— On  tin;  Physiological  Causes  of  Harmoi.y  in 
Music.— Ice  and  Glaciers.— Interaction  of  the  Kalural  Forces.— The  Recent  Prog- 
ress of  the  Theory  of  Vision.— The  Conservation  of  Force.— Aim  and  Progress 
of  Physical  Science. 

Popular  Lectures  on  Scientific  Subjects.    By  II. 

HELMHOLTZ.     Second  Series.     12mo.     Cloth,  $1.50. 
CONTENTS.— Gnstav  Magnus.— In  Memoriam.— The  Origin  and  Significance 
of  Geometrical  Axioms.— Relation  of  Optics  to  Painting.— Origin  of  the  ^Planetary 
System. — Ou  Thought  in  Medicine. — Academic  Freedom  in  German  Universities. 

Professor  Helmholtz's  second  series  of  Popular  Lectures  on  Scientific  Sub- 
s' forms  a  volume  of  singular  interest  and  value.    lie  who  anticipates 
rd  of  facts  or  a  sequence  of  immature  «eneralizntion  will  find  himself  hi 
mistaken.    In  style  and  method  these  discourses  are  models  of  excellence 


jects1  forms  a  volume  of  singular  interest  and  value.    lie  who  anticipates  a  dry 

"    'piiy 

and, 
dispute, 
they  may" be  accepted  as  pre?entiii(r  the  conclusions  ot  the  best  thought  of  the 


record  of  facts  or  a  sequence  of  immature  «eneralizntion  will  find  himself  happily 
mistaken.  In  style  and  method  these  discourses  are  models  of  excellence,  and, 
since  they  come  from  a  man  whose  learning  ai:d  authority  are  beyond  die 


times  in  scientific  fields."— Boston  Traveler. 

Science  and  Culture,  and  other  Essays.  By  Pro- 
fessor T.  H.  HUXLEY,  F.  R.  S.  12mo.  Cloth,  $1.50. 

"Of  the  essays  that  have  been  collected  by  Professor  Huxley  in  this  volume, 
Mm  first  tour  deal  with  some  aspect  of  education.  Most  of  the  remainder  are  ex- 
positions  of  the  results  of  biological  research,  and,  at  the  same  time,  illustrations 
of  the  history  of  scientific  ideas.  Some  of  these  are  among  the  most  interesting 
of  Professor  Huxley's  contributions  to  the  literature  of  science." — London  Acad- 
emy. 

"It  is  refreshing  to  be  bronsht  into  converse  with  one  of  the  most  vigorous 
and  acute  thinkers  of  our  time,  who  has  the  power  of  putting  his  thoughts  into 
language  so  clear  and  forcible."— London  Spectator. 

Scientific  Culture,  and  other  Essays.     By  JOSIAH 

PARSONS  COOKE,  Professor  of  Chemistry  and  Mineralogy  in  Harvard 

College.     12mo.     Cloth,  $1.00. 

These  essays  are  an  outcome  of  a  somewhat  large  experience  in  teaching 
physical  science  to  college  students.  Cambridge,  Massachusetts,  early  pet  the 
example  of  making  the  student's  own  observations  in  the  laboratory  or  cabinet 
Ihe  basis  of  all  teaching,  either  in  experimental  or  natural  history  science  ;  and 
Iliis  example  has  been  generally  followed.  "  But  in  most  centers  of  education, 
writes  Professor  Cooke,  "the  old  traditions  so  far  survive  that  the  great  end  of 
scientific  culture  is  lost  in  attempting  to  conform  even  laboratory  instruction  to 
the  old  academic  methods  of  recitations  and  examinations.  To  point  out  this 
error,  and  to  claim  for  science -teaching  its  appropriate  methods,  was  one  object 
of  writing  these  essays." 

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